"It's not Musharraf, it's the judiciary that is on trial," shouts a visibly grief-stricken lawyer at the buffet table of one of the crowded elitist clubs of Pakistan at the weekend. This lawyer, who has represented Musharraf in one of his cases in recent days, is in fact taking a jibe at another member for making a provocative comment on Musharraf's profound ordeal. Listening to this lawyer with rapt attention, those present around the table look at him appreciatively and approvingly, showing he has a positive opinion about the issue that has dragged the higher judiciary into an unfortunate controversy.
Although, the remarks of a good number of members of this pre-partition prestigious club in favour of this lawyer do not necessarily or fully reflect the public mood in relation to Musharraf's circumstances, the events of last few days have shown that the ex-army chief has effectively dominated the broadcast and print media. Resultantly, people are talking more about him and less about the May 11 elections. Despite a formal launch of election campaigns by major political parties, particularly Punjab-based PML-N and PTI, it is still extremely difficult, if not impossible, to shift one's focus from the Musharraf factor which has turned out to be a bigger spanner in the election works. It is therefore imperative to recall a couple of excerpts from the two previous articles of this newspaper's Election Outlook series because there is no denying that his is an unprecedented experience in the history of Pakistan, especially one that is severely testing his character and endurance. It is also testing the power of withstanding stress of the institution that he led for a decade in the recent history of the country:
"The question why former Pakistan's President and army chief Pervez Musharraf has abandoned best possible worldly comforts for the quagmire of country's politics largely remains unanswered despite his enthusiastic rhetoric and an evolving situation fraught with growing security threats and dangers ahead of the May 11 general election. That he's no fool or lunatic is a fact that has only deepened the mystery behind his return to the country weeks before the general election... ."- Musharraf: A spanner in the election works? (March 29, 2013)
"In addition to the complexities and "hardships" caused by Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution for the prospecting candidates, the presence of Musharraf in Pakistan weeks before elections and the nature of the cases that he faces in different courts, particularly the hearing in Supreme Court of identical petitions seeking his trial under Article 6 of the Constitution for allegedly committing high treason, and the overt reluctance of disgruntled Baloch nationalists to take part in elections add to doubts about the first-ever civilian-to-civilian power transition in the history of Pakistan. A growing sense of anticipation among people has therefore somehow dampened election fever. In short, doubts still hover over elections."-Punjab always matters (April 15, 2013)
Ever since the appearance of the above mentioned articles, some key developments have taken place in relation to Musharraf. An anti-terrorism court judge ordered him to be held in custody for two weeks until the next hearing in a case related to imposition of Emergency Plus in November 2007 by him. His stylish Chak Shahzad house in suburban Islamabad has been declared a sub-jail where he is put under house arrest for imposing house arrest on judges. This development has been widely interpreted as the latest act in a drama or a farce that erupted earlier last week and climaxed with his arrest by police last Friday.
Musharraf's ordeal has led to some wild speculations. Many observers seek to stress the point that Musharraf's plight could be an attempt by the establishment to earn him legitimacy in order to help him pitch and present his argument before the people in an effective and meaningful manner, while others apprehend that a stage is being set for an army take-over days before May 11 general election. They plausibly argue that the history of Pakistan tells them that "you do not arrest and imprison your former army chief. You do not even allow the public humiliation of a former army chief even if he has challenged the writ of the government of day". A case in point relates to an anti-General Zia rally led by the then PPP Secretary General former army chief Tikka Khan in the 1980s. General Tikka slipped and fell on the ground due to a stampede caused by sudden baton-charge and tear-gassing by police. The entire Rawalpindi administration had to face the barrage of ferocious invectives from a fuming General Zia. "Don't do it, ever," was said to be the red line delineated in dark red (perhaps borrowed from highly acclaimed novel and movie The Night of the Generals) by General Zia as a manifestation of his displeasure and anger that he expressed loudly and solemnly against the indignation, however inadvertent, suffered by his former but senior colleague who hailed from Pindighieb. They also cite the examples of Field Marshal Ayub Khan and General Yahya Khan, who died in 1974 and 1980, respectively. Each of them died a natural death without facing a civilian or military trial. They were never subjected to any accountability. The latter, who travelled abroad for medical reasons on quite a few occasions, in particular was not even tried for his role that he notoriously played in the dismemberment of Pakistan. As far as General Zia-ul-Haq was concerned, he died in a plane crash in 1987 under mysterious circumstances. The question about the possible fate of the most hated army dictator if he had also died a natural death would always seek an answer from inquiring minds.
Regardless of merits and demerits of such contentions, one huge difference between the cases of Yahya-Ayub and Musharraf is the fact that while Ayub and Yahya never vied, albeit indirectly, or showed any overt or covert ambitions to regain power after their removal from the scene, Musharraf turned out to be an altogether different case. Little did he perhaps know that his pronouncements in relation to his desires to continue to be at the helm that he made public at a businessmen's function in Karachi would prove to be the last nail in the coffin of his designs to perpetuate his rule even in the near future. He committed a Himalayan miscalculation by misreading the dynamics of post-2008 election situation for he failed to realise that he was steadily eroding his popularity and the "unflinching" support that those members of the business community had shown to him was nothing but a hollow promise made without any serious intention. The situation had required him to relinquish his determination to continue his grip on power. Not only did he give up power under the threat of impeachment reluctantly, he made his plan to return at "an appropriate" time to the country public as soon as he went into exile. The establishment used the plan of his possible return as a stick against the PPP-led coalition government until his successor President Zardari made it clear that under no circumstances would he accept such threats. He famously asked: "Where in the world does this happen? ...How can a former dictator regain power?"
Unfortunately, however, this issue has given birth to some unsavoury but expected developments that have a clear potential to contribute towards parochial and ethnic tensions because Musharraf belongs to a minority but influential Urdu-speaking community. But how ironic it is that the other controversial former army chief, Mirza Aslam Beg, who has aroused widespread anger by playing a mean, an unjust and unworthy role in the 1990 general elections, also happens to be a member of the same community. Interestingly, the two top former army chiefs treat each other quite unfavourably and with a measure of disdain and disapproval. While General Beg is considered by General Musharraf as a "pseudo" intellectual, General Musharraf is rated by General Beg as a "despicable" character. It has been alarmingly witnessed that in recent days the public discourse has also allowed space to particularly those who passionately argue that a stand-off between a prime minister from Sindh and the higher judiciary leads to the defeat of the former while it does not happen in the case of a dispute between a prime minister from Punjab and the apex judiciary. In the same breath, they also ask whether or not the hearing of petitions that have sought Musharraf's trial under Article 6 for allegedly committing high treason would adversely affect the concept of trichotomy of power as envisaged and envisioned by the constitution, weaken harmony among institutions, foment parochialism and promote anarchy and instability because of vastness and intensity of gravity and profound unpredictability of the matter.
-This was the fifth part of multi-part series "Election Outlook". The next part of this series "Hazards of the Hazara belt" will be carried by the newspaper shortly. The writer is newspaper's News Editor. He previously worked for various publications, including Daily Times, Dawn and Khaleej Times, on different positions. ([email protected])
Comments
Comments are closed.