In Zafar Ali Shah v/s General Pervez Musharraf (2000) case, the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP), led by Chief Justice Irshad Hasan Khan, legitimized Musharraf’s coup conditionally, requiring him to restore democracy in the country in three years. Quite unexpectedly, however, 9/11 offered him a long lease of Pakistan’s Presidency, which he grabbed as a windfall.
Having established himself with the international support of the mighty and domestic following of the naïve, he started dreaming of dying in the chair. This, he reckoned, would require both, the Jinnah cap as also the Peaked cap, and ventured to retain; which is what triggered his downfall.
Musharraf decided to contest the 2007 Presidential election in uniform. Given public disenchantment with his long-manipulated incumbency, his dual role as the President and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) was challenged in the SCP by several petitioners, including Wajihuddin Ahmad, a retired judge of the Supreme Court.
The public wrath found its expression in the February 2008 parliamentary elections.
The judiciary, under Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had by then been increasingly challenging Musharraf’s authority and was likely to rule against his continued dual role.
Sensing this, Musharraf summoned Chaudhary to his office on 9 March 2007, accused him of misconduct and demanded his resignation. Chaudhary refused and was suspended.
This sparked widespread protests by lawyers and civil society, popularly known as the Lawyers’ Movement and split the judiciary into two camps.
One troop of kangaroos acquiesced, while the other, whose toes had been trampled by heavy boots, stood up “on principle” with the tacit support of the “invisible”.
The Lawyers’ Movement, encouraged by “aliens” and supported by opposition parties and civil society, became a nationwide protest against Musharraf.
These protests galvanized world opinion and were widely criticized by the international community and human rights organizations. Even allies like the US started pressurizing Musharraf to mend fences with his civilian adversaries.
Feeling the heat, Musharraf promulgated the controversial National Reconciliation Order (NRO) on 5 October 2007.
The US-brokered power-sharing agreement between Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) granted amnesty to politicians, bureaucrats and public officials, accused of corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, murder and terrorism, between 1 January 1986 and 12 October 1999.
The disastrous U-Turn, dictated by the leader of the “free world”, championing causes of democracy and the rule of law in the global village, was arguably the most heinous act of Musharraf’s career. It stands out as the most indefensible and consequential mistake he ever made.
He was rewarded instantly. The following day, despite public alienation, he was re-elected as President by the outgoing parliament, with an overwhelming majority.
Emboldened by this, he decided to stem the public uprising with a heavy hand. The over-confident guerilla sitting in him struck again, without luck this time, though. On 3 November 2007, he declared a state of emergency, which was essentially a martial law.
He suspended the Constitution and promulgated the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO); dismissed dissenting judges, including Chief Justice Chaudhary, who refused to take oath under the PCO; and replaced them with “loyalists”.
Independent media channels were shut down or heavily censored. Opposition leaders, lawyers, and activists were arrested in large numbers.
Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, a senior SCP judge, was appointed as Chief Justice. The court, led by him, legitimized Musharraf’s emergency and actions under the PCO, including suspension of the Constitution.
The kangaroo court also validated Musharraf’s controversial re-election as President while still serving as COAS, a decision criticized as politically motivated and legally dubious. (Many of Dogar’s rulings were overturned or rendered invalid after Musharraf’s exit).
Having secured the Presidency, and imposed draconian PCO, over-confident Musharraf hung up his Peaked cap on 28 November 2007, which turned out to be a disastrous misjudgement on his part!
His over-confidence to rule over Militocratic Pakistan, with the swagger stick in other hands, was overly optimistic, and unrealistic. His miscalculation severely undermined his strategic position on the political chessboard, for which he had to pay dearly.
The second emergency and his decision to relinquish his role as COAS marked the beginning of the end of Musharraf’s political career.
The public wrath found its expression in the February 2008 parliamentary elections. His civilian team was trounced by beneficiaries of the NRO.
The PPP’s co-chairman, Asif Ali Zardari, cobbled up a coalition to impeach Musharraf.
Reading the writing on the wall, Musharraf resigned on 18 August 2008 and was succeeded by Zardari, who assumed office of the President on 9 September 2008, with Chaudhary still wandering in the wilderness. (To Be Continued)
Despite intense pressure from the Lawyer’s Movement to vindicate Chaudhary’s position, Zardari’s government dragged its feet for almost six months.
Zardari publicly complained that he had been handed raw deals by Chaudhary. But Chaudhary had the last laugh, thanks to the “guarantors”, at whose encouragement, he stood up to Musharraf; and, was reinstated on 22 March 2009, to retire over four years later, on 11 December 2013.
The writer is a former diplomat, based in Canberra, and can be reached at khizar_niazi@ hotmail.com