Daily Times

Gen (rtd) Pervez Musharraf is back. And he’s celebrating good times. For exactly 10 years after he abrogated the Constitution and imposed a state of emergency that may or may not have technically been martial law — he is all ready to sashay back onto Pakistan’s political scene, as elections loom. And this time around, he’s not going it alone.

Musharraf is at his most comfortable when leading a battalion from the front as they ready to fight the good fight. Thus his latest reinvention positions him as chairman of a 23-party grand alliance, the Pakistan Awami Itehad (PAI). Not only that, he is also intent to demonstrate that grudges are not for the political opportunist. Thus has he invited his old PMLQ bedfellows Shujaat Hussain and Pervez Elahi to join his camp; after all, during his heyday these two were said to be all the king’s men. And the good general has even indicated there is room for little ol’ Imran Khan. After all, it was His Imminence who supported him back in 2002, thereby propelling him on to the path of political legitimacy. And a gentleman never forgets.

Thus far, only the civvies have had anything to say about Musharraf’s latest move; and most of it isn’t good. The security apparatus, by contrast, has remained rather tight-lipped. Though it seems doubtful that the former COAS would be as foolhardy as to try and make a second comeback without getting the khaki go-ahead. Which means that this could be the military establishment’s biggest mainstreaming project to date. And as things stand today, the PAI could in theory sweep the elections.

Whether or not this is a soft coup — it may be a little too early to say. But the timing is key. The elections are scheduled to take place at a time when the situation across our western border has never been more precarious; with Pakistan being scape-goated left, right and centre for the quagmire of the Americans’ own making. Thus Musharraf could be the military establishment’s — ahem — trump card, if you will. Yet supposing that the PAI were super duper successful at the ballot box, it doesn’t mean that it would be plain sailing from thereon in.

Firstly, Trump Town will be mindful that it was under Musharraf’s watch that Afghan militants first found safe-havens in this country. Though of course it may also be argued that had Washington not simply agreed to the Taliban request to hand over Bin Laden to a third country, widely believed at the time to be Pakistan, none of us would be where we are today in terms of the regional security situation. Secondly, if Musharraf’s return is part of some kind of behind-the-scenes done deal — we had better brace ourselves for an initial blowback. After all, the TTP labelled him an American puppet; and went as far to as to carry out several assassination attempts against him. Whether the recent spate of ‘reformed assets’ will have any impact on this is also something that remains to be seen.

Yet none of this can circumvent the fundamental question: is Pakistan’s democracy dead?  *

Published in Daily Times, November 12^th 2017.