If the Sharif government had deliberately set out to distract people from its failure to provide quick fixes to bread and butter issues, or to erode Imran Khan’s bid to ignite mass passions against the federal government over the continuing US drone strikes, it could not have manufactured a better device than General Pervez Musharraf’s treason trial that has hogged headlines for the last two weeks. Will Musharraf be brought to court and indicted or not? Is he really ill? Has a deal been done by the Sharifs with the generals and judges to whisk Musharraf out of Pakistan on some pretext or the other so that he is not a cause of embarrassment any more?
The Sharifs had committed themselves time and again to trying General Musharraf for treason under Article 6 of the constitution if and when they came to power. He was guilty of doing the 1999 coup that removed them from office and subsequently exiled them to Saudi Arabia and the UK. Much in the same fashion, ex-CJP Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and his brother judges wanted to hold General Musharraf accountable for imposing a state of emergency and ousting them from office in 2007. Interestingly enough, the Sharifs had no problem contesting the general elections of 2008 and swearing themselves into the parliaments that later flowed from General Musharraf’s 2007 proclamation in the same fashion as Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry et al had had no difficulty earlier in legitimizing the coup of 1999. Curiously, neither the Sharifs nor the judges have ever countenanced the possibility of trying General Musharraf’s aiders and abettors for treason on both occasions as ordained by the constitution.
In short, this treason trial is not about protecting and upholding the constitution (as argued by the Sharifs), nor indeed of foreclosing the possibility of any coup in the future (as held by the judges). It is essentially about political revenge and settling scores by the Sharifs and the judges.
General Musharraf’s motives for returning to Pakistan are equally transparent. He was deceived by his million-strong Facebook/Twitter followers in Pakistan and his million-dollar royalties from book sales and fees from lecture tours in the West into believing that he had a significant political constituency at home and abroad. So he launched his own party and returned to Pakistan expecting huge crowds and adulating supporters. Instead, he was isolated and charged with conspiracy to murder Benazir Bhutto, Akbar Bugti, and Lal Masjid jihadis. He was also charged with the sacking of the CJP and six fellow judges in 2007. So he was compelled to acquire armoured vehicles and security and rush from court to court posting bail instead of readying to contest elections. And when he thought he had run the gamut and could slip away abroad to lick his wounds, the wily Sharifs and rampant judges sprung a treason case upon him. Stunned, he implored the army high command, the Saudis and the Emiratis to rescue him from the clutches of the wicked civilians who were conspiring to string him up, conveniently forgetting that General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the former ISI chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, the COAS, and Saudi and Emirati emissaries had all advised him not to venture back to Pakistan.
The Get-Musharraf-Out-Of-Pakistan operation is now in full swing. The Sharifs have handed responsibility to the special court and the military, effectively washing their hands of the affair. Once bitten, twice shy; they recall the Raymond Davis affair in 2011 when they were first advised by the ISI to charge and hold Davis in Punjab and then, when anti-American passions were running high, ordered to let him go in the dead of night amidst mass censure by the media. This time they have deftly dropped the baby in the lap of its stepmother. The military is now contriving ways and means of protecting its own in the blinding glare of the media.
Some people say the Sharifs are treading on thin ice by launching a treason case against an ex-army chief and risking a rupture in civil-military relations. This is not correct. The military is acting in its own interest and not against the Sharifs by protecting General Musharraf. The last thing it wants is for the trial to drag on and rope in other top military officials. No one wants to open a Pandora’s box by trying the coup-makers and their aiders and abettors – generals, judges and politicians – of 1999 any more than their counterparts of 2007. Therefore this is a joint operation to get rid of someone who poses problems for everyone. General Raheel Sharif, the new COAS, is as much in the loop as General Kayani, the ex-COAS, was months earlier. That is why Imran Khan is silent, and the Chaudhries of Gujrat and the MQM, the biggest beneficiaries of the 1999 coup, are squarely lined up behind General Musharraf.
The treason trial is fated to wither on the vine in the same manner as the Memogate case.
In India every VVIP when faces court , supposed to get heart ailment . It is just a routine. After all we are branches from the same tree. It is only blasphemy victims get murder in great hurry and the supporting humanity if any get shot. Long live great Salmaan Tasseer.
list of charges includes only what harm done to democracy and to few politicians. But no one seems to be questioning thousands of soldiers killed by initiating unwanted wars by these great egoistic and erratic generals who enjoy luxury life after their retirement. These are nothing but murders . All their abodes are built by liberal American Aid through ISI. Media and the nation is silent. oosh ! do not touch army VVIPs. Army is watching.
As some indian UP politicians opined that soldiers are meant to die. why flap about it. But mothers and wives of dead soldiers should try Musharraf for sacrificing the soldiers like goats.
cancel all other charges, as they are mere political games played by team of politicians, judges, generals and fanned by media.
Well said.
If one thing he should squarely stand trial for and let others be joined too–that is the sole fiasco of Kargil. This is a shameful defeat for totally unproductive purposes which unleashed terrorism in its wake in Pakistan. How Musharraf single-handedly did it, or told Nawaz in meek and muttering voice, this needs to be clarified also. Niwaz is on record that more Pakistani soldiers died in Kargil then any previous India-Pakistan wars. Musharaff also write in his autobiography that he was waiting to use the nuclear weapon against India had the war escalated. No one had given him that mandate. Musharraf has sold many innocent people (yes for a price) and mentioned proudly in his book. The Chinese Muslims had issues with the Chinese government, they were not terrorists, they suffered for very long time in Gitmo Bay. Finally, the US courts declared them innocent. Musharraf can be held for that also. When the Chief Justice was visiting Karachi, and a local ethnic gunnery was killing non-stop, he was watching on TV, and did nothing to stop them. But when one of his relatives was manhandled by a kin of a Punjabi politicians, he asked ISI to teach him a lesson. Again, everyone told Niwaz not to do this, but do he listen? It is analyzed that his first rule (which he consider some golden rule) he used to act a lot without thinking, and now he thinks a lot without acting.
The editorial is right on pointing to Gen. Musharraf’s
miscalculation in returning to Pakistan. He is trapped.
What Mr.Sharif can do is to prolong his agony to just
punish him enough without the trial, indictment or
conviction. The trial itself will be a big distraction.
The security and economic situation require 100%
attention from everyone to stave off major crisis.
Nuremberg trial clearly established that people
who execute the order are as guilty as the leader
issuing the order. They always have the free choice
of saying no, submit their resignation and walk away.
It is worth recalling that the General Musharraf
was in flight from Sri Lanka when 1999 coup occurred.
People on the ground who carried it out were many
military officers and personnel.
The trial of Musharraf only will be a travesty and a
political parody. Pakistan doesn’t need the theatre
of the absurd at this moment in its history. Let him
enjoy his evening cocktail in Dubai.
there is not much one can expect in a banana republic ruled by tin pot dictators!
musharaf being just one of the “unlucky” one’s to get caught up. what about ayub khan, yahya khan, zia ul haq. there skeleton’s will continue to haunt the democracy project until they are posthumously rewarded an indictment and a penalty by the judiciary.
the war against terror and its fallout in KP and balochistan with HRs violations and thousands of deaths and destruction of livelihoods can squarely be laid at musharaf’s door. if he escapes justice in this world i am sure he will be welcomed in the gates of hell along with other megalomaniacs and egocentric madmen in the hall of shame ……………..
He should definitely be tried, along with those who were his fellow ministers. This is the only way the government will be able to go after other big fish, like smugglers, tax evaders and those who have looted the country in the past (this includes some of those who are in the present assemblies).
Lets make it very clear, Musharraf is not army and Army is not Musharraf. If someone give the logic of demoralization of Army by Musharraf’s trail then they must think again, Musharraf’s ‘mysterious ailment’ is more shameful than the treason trail.
If someone thinks that the trail is malfide and 12th October should be the day then I think the date should be from ‘feb to may 1999′. When fallen General was fighting the Kargil war. Now some might say that Nawaz sharif was fully aware. Alright, let set a commision and see who the culprit is. This sham logic, ‘why only Musharraf’ is disgusting.
The case is not political, the case is admitted in court on merit and if someone has a wee bit doubt about the veracity of case then Musharraf is fully empowered to contest it by the ‘equal citizen rights and fair trial rights’ given by the same constitution which he courageously abrogated.