Is this end of the road for Pervez Musharraf IJ
The former President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, may have fled from court to evade arrest on Thursday, but he can’t ignore the fact that he is fast approaching the end of the road. That he once led the Pakistani Army may now buy him some time, but Gen Musharraf should use that bonus from his friends in the military to craft a face-saving exit route for himself rather than waste it on resuscitating his political career. The former dictator returned to Pakistan last month after nearly four years in self-imposed exile, determined to participate in the general election scheduled for May 11 and take back power in his country. However, the small crowd that greeted him at lahore airport, leading many to wonder if he had grossly miscalculated the amount of popular support he enjoyed, was only the first sign of things to come. In the weeks since then, Gen Musharraf has suffered a series of setbacks. First, all his nomination papers have been cancelled. He had applied to fight the election from four parliamentary seats — Chitral, Karachi, Kasur and Islamabad — and his nomination was rejected right off the bat in the first three. In the case of the Islamabad seat, his papers were initially accepted but then rejected by an election tribunal. Second, on Wednesday, the Supreme Court ordered the Interior Ministry to put Gen Musharraf on the Exit Control list; thereby, preventing him from flying out of the country and shutting down the former President's most convenient escape route. In effect then, not only can Gen Musharraf now not contest the election for which he had risked the relative safety of self-imposed exile, he now finds himself facing the full force of a judiciary he had once antagonised.
Against this backdrop, Thursday's court decision is only the latest blow to Gen Musharraf. The Islamabad High Court cancelled his bail and ordered his arrest, in relation to his fallout with the judiciary while he was still President. In 2007, Gen Musharraf, desperate to hold on to power, had proclaimed Emergency on November 3 and in its aftermath detained over 60 judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Critics say his decision was unconstitutional; the former President has been charged with treason. And there is more to Gen Musharraf's legal woes. Apart from the judges’ detention case, he is facing trial for his alleged role in former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination in 2007. Earlier this week, the lahore High Court in Rawalpindi extended his bail in that case to April 24; however, there is no telling how things will play out after that. Additionally, Gen Musharraf has also been charged with the 2006 murder of Baloch separatist leader Akbar Bugti, and that is yet another sword that hangs over his head. For now, the options before him are limited. Instead of trying to run away from the law in a manner that makes him look like he is above the law, Gen Musharraf should consider more sensible options and face trial. Perhaps, that will gain him some respect.