Pervez Musharraf’s woes have only begun
For a hardened military man who understands warfare both on the battlefield and in politics, General Pervez Musharraf has terribly misread the situation in Pakistan. What else can explain his decision to give up a comfortable exile and return to Pakistan where he is, from all accounts, unwantedIJ Not only did he receive a lukewarm welcome but he was also summarily barred from contesting the election to the country's National Assembly, and put under house arrest. As if that was not enough, he now faces grave charges of treason and murder.
In this hour of personal crisis, Gen Musharraf has few friends in the country's democratic establishment, never mind his oft-repeated claim that he set the stage for the transition to a people's regime. Not just the Government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but also the Opposition led by the Pakistan Peoples Party wants him punished for his crimes. The only silver lining can be — it is ‘can be' and not ‘is' — the intervention of Saudi Arabia to mitigate his suffering in case he is given a harsh punishment, which could include death. But that is for later; as of now, Gen Musharraf has to wage a lonely legal battle, something that his military background has not prepared him for.
\\Pakistan’s Supreme Court is already hearing petitions against the former President, accusing him of suspending the Constitution and imposing Emergency on November 3, 2007. On Thursday, a four-member special investigative committee was also set up to look into these charges. This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that a civilian Government has moved the court to try a military man under Article 6, which calls for a high treason trial of those who abrogate the Constitution. Former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has even gone so far as to say that the judges who colluded with Gen Musharraf to uphold his declaration of Emergency must also be tried for the same crime. Interestingly, the treason charges against Gen Musharraf do not extend to the bloodless coup that he engineered in 1999 to overthrow the elected regime of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
But that offers him scant relief. Apart from treason, he has also been charged with the 2006 killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti and is also an accused in the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was shot during a campaign rally in the run-up to the 2008 parliamentary election that she was expected to win. Without a doubt, Gen Musharraf has painted himself into a corner. He may try to drag the trial until after his nemesis, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's tenure as Chief Justice ends, but that is unlikely to solve his problems. The political establishment of Pakistan seems determined to hold him accountable, if not deliver him to the hangman's noose, while the military is reluctant to be seen as meddling in civilian affairs to protect a former dictator at a time when the country has just completed its first democratic transition of power.