"As a journalist we have seen the country's elected prime ministers shackled after a military coup, exiled and Bhutto was murdered but somehow former military dictators do not seem to have the same heart as civilians."
"Same heart?"
"They develop heart troubles."
"Don't be facetious. Musharraf is the only dictator who was unseated by civilians and survived. Ziaul Haq died while in power if you recall. Yahya was not really liked by anyone and yet even after he died he was not tried in a court of law nor are his infamous deeds..."
"But cases do not survive one's death if you know what I mean. All cases against Benazir Bhutto were dropped too after her assassination."
"I don't know where you are going with this but I do know that many argue that Musharraf must be made to pay a price for abrogating the constitution so that military dictatorships become a thing of the past but I don't agree, even if Musharraf is tried and convicted the next military adventurer would simply ensure that the judiciary gives him cover for his coup. Musharraf did that remember for the first coup, but by the second coup he had become too arrogant - and that was his undoing."
"But the people would not accept a civilian overthrow at this point."
"All I want is for the military to make its own generals accountable. We saw that former head of army staff General Kayani protected army personnel even when there were clear indications of corruption (recall the National Logistic Cell corruption scandal) and public admission of incompetence by former ISI chief (with respect to the location of Osama bin Laden) did not lead to dismissal, he tendered his resignation which was not accepted..."
"But you can't accuse a former army head of treason. The morale of the jawans..."
"Treason in this case is defined not as selling state secrets to India but for violating the constitution."
"But still..."
"And there is a difference between the generals and the jawans."
"Still..."
"And the army heart hospital is run from my tax rupees and I don't want it to be used as a sanctuary..."
"But there are so many, many problems facing Pakistan today and instead of focusing on Musharraf..."
"A government that takes one problem at a time should resign."
"I give up."
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