Daily Times

Former Prime Minister (PM) Yusuf Raza Gilani made some candid statements in a press conference on Friday, advising the government how to deal with former president Pervez Musharraf. The PPP stalwart revealed that when democracy was restored after a popular movement against President Musharraf in 2007 and his party won the election that followed in 2008, one of their prime considerations was what to do about the president, who had tearfully relinquished his position as COAS but retained the presidency. General opinion holds that at the time, with their leader Benazir Bhutto assassinated and the party being led by her husband Asif Ali Zardari, the desire in both the PPP and PML-N ranks was to impeach Musharraf and cut him down to size. While he did not mention any such feelings, Gilani did say that impeachment was considered but instead a consensus developed around negotiating with the ‘establishment’ to let Musharraf resign and leave the country with dignity in order to preserve the democratic system and not needlessly antagonise the military. This deal, Gilani said, was tacitly agreed to at the time by the opposition PML-N given the reality of the political situation and was essential to preserve the tentative democratic foothold in the state. It was not possible, Gilani asserted, to make a powerful president (and former COAS) step down without the agreement of the ‘establishment’ and the only way to get them to agree was to give an assurance that the former president would not be humiliated or tried and given safe passage. This was partly a result of Benazir Bhutto’s philosophy of ‘reconciliation’ by which she forged an alliance with her former nemesis Nawaz Sharif when they issued the Charter of Democracy in 2006. She recognised that their mutually antagonistic relationship had undermined democratic rule and that in future not only they, but also political parties and the military, would have to let bygones be bygones.

While Gilani insisted his statements were not being made because of any threats to the democratic system, the timing and substance of his revelations point to simmering tensions between the elected government and the military over the former’s hawkish stance on General Musharraf since he returned to Pakistan to contest last year’s elections. Musharraf has been under house arrest in his residence in Islamabad since then and faces treason charges for his declaration of emergency in 2007. The contradiction in trying Musharraf for imposing emergency but not for his 1999 coup aside, the whole issue is a distraction when the country faces several concomitant crises. The military is understandably unhappy about one of its own, albeit retired, being put in the dock, even though it was embarrassed by Musharraf’s return. Musharraf was reportedly advised that his democratic ambitions were pipedreams, but the former president has a reputation for pigheadedness and was deluded into imagining that he had wide popular support. The government has since been double-minded. Hawkish members of the PML-N, like Ministers Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Khwaja Asif, were vocal earlier this year about trying Musharraf for treason and insisted that the proceedings would continue despite rumours of tensions between the ‘establishment’ and the government. The latter was forced to publicly retract his sentiments after a stern reprimand from the PM. When the Sindh High Court gave Musharraf leave to go to Dubai on humanitarian grounds, the government moved the Supreme Court to prevent it, but has since tried to deflect responsibility onto the courts. It seems there remains a latent desire for revenge among some members of the PML-N and Musharraf’s lingering presence continues to hamper an accord between the state’s civil and military institutions. Gilani’s reminder to the government that it tacitly agreed to let Musharraf go and put the continuation of democracy first may be a bitter pill to swallow, but perhaps Nawaz Sharif should remember that at one time Benazir felt much the same about him as he does about Musharraf. Her ability to let go of the past helped bring democracy back to Pakistan; his ability to do the same may be what keeps it there. *