Musharraf's last hurrah?

Was it the last clarion call of a man pushed to the wall or return of a saviour asking his 'people' what went wrong when he was away? The purpose of President Musharraf's media conference on Saturday and the message he delivered through it are being interpreted in a variety of ways. It was indeed a forceful comeback of a man who was being written off from the public mind word by word, page by page.
Increasingly dubbed as irrelevant to the emerging political scenario, Pervez Musharraf seemed to be in the process of being consigned to the dustbin of history. His future was depicted variously, ranging from a life in exile to his trial on charges of sedition. Some reports had seen him eating the Last Supper with the powers that be and others said the plane that would take him away had landed. But then he arrived on the scene flaunting usual swagger that goes with the bearing of a commando.
'I am not going away', he told a clutch of television anchors carefully selected to avoid any embarrassing or intrusive questioning, who were invited to the Presidency from all over the country. Asked what he would do if he were bereft of the powers he has under 58(2)(b), President Musharraf was tentative: "I will keep watching. I can't become a useless vegetable... If I see that I don't have any role to play then it is better to play golf and take rest". He also dared the parliament to impeach him if it can.
"My opponents should try to remove me through parliament and not through abuses." The 60 judges, he said, were not dismissed by him, they were supposed to take oath under the PCO, but they did not and thus lost their jobs - as simple as that, said Pervez Musharraf. The Kargil episode, he said, could be probed into if the government wanted and commando action against Lal Masjid was justified as developments there had brought a bad name to the country. President Pervez Musharraf did not admit to any wrong at any time nor did he dodge any question. Yet he was not the same old Pervez Musharraf; his poise appeared deceptive and his words sounded hollow.
What brought President Musharraf unto the media stage after a hiatus of two months' of lying low? There could be a number of plausible reasons but the one that comes to mind immediately is that he felt he had weathered the storm kicked up by the February 18 elections. Possibly, he thought the political dispensation that materialised consequent to elections failed to deliver, causing public despondency and political vacuum. Of late, he had complained that the country was suffering due to incapable leadership.
At the media encounter, he again talked of Pakistan's failing economy, graphically depicting the perpendicular downturn by dropping his hand pointed towards the floor. He seems to be drawing a sense of satisfaction from the growing perceptional mismatch the coalition partners have over the constitutional package. But who knows that the confidence he exuded may be an exercise in camouflaging the deep isolation besetting him. It may be the last hurrah of a man with his back to the wall, a do-or-die posture before the national media amidst a rising cacophony of demands for his impeachment and trial.
There may be many other motivations also behind this well orchestrated move by the presidential camp also but what seems to have precipitated the media event is the upcoming lawyers' long march in support of the deposed judges. Largely un-connected so far with political developments and future of the constitutional package, a wholly new and fiercely independent force is in the making to press for the ouster of President Pervez Musharraf. Of course, it is spearheaded by the lawyers but it is snowballing by the day.
After the retired senior military officers vowed to take their ex-army chief to the dock, retired ambassadors have also joined the movement in the making. In a couple of days the lawyers are going to undertake a long march against the President's unpopular decision to sack the judges, an event with potential to turn into a rejection of all that stands in his name.
This new force on the ground brooks no compromise, unlike the PPP-authored constitutional package that gives a lot of breathing space to the president, on issues like the judges' removal, Kargil and Lal Masjid massacre. Who allowed Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan to be interviewed by the media bypassing the Gilani government is, therefore, a matter that concerns the President too. Is it that President Musharraf has decided to go down fighting? Or, is it that he is asking all and sundry as to what is his next mission?