Daily Times

This time Gen (rtd) Pervez Musharraf has not landed on his feet. Indeed, it appears that he has worked his way through all nine lives. Which is still not a bad innings for a confirmed dog lover.

Admittedly, the one-time commando took his time seeing the writing on the wall. Yet this week he conceded defeat by resigning as chairman of the APML, the party he founded back in 2010 when still confident that all of Pakistan loves a man in uniform. It was a decision that came at the eleventh hour; considering elections are a mere month away. And one that may be termed a betrayal of both party and vote-bank. Or it could well represent a belated realisation that the unequivocal respect a military man earns on the battlefield does not easily translate into civilian politics. Even if one had the wherewithal in the past to rig the system into accepting a two-hat card trick.

All of which could be good news for Imran Khan who, in a modern spin on that old classic tale Pygmalion, has yet to kick the habit of picking up turncoats and rewarding them with big boy tickets. Similarly, this bowing out of political life represents a victory of sorts for Nawaz Sharif; the man whom Musharraf overthrew nearly 20 years ago. After all, the former Prime Minister has long contended that this own political undoing was the price to be paid for hauling the erstwhile Army chief before the courts on charges of treason related to the 2007 state of emergency.

Musharraf, for his part, continues to blame the judiciary for taking up what he terms politically motivated cases. Such firm belief saw him looking the Chief Justice’s gift-horse in the mouth. For Justice Saqib Nisar had offered the former COAS an amnesty deal guaranteeing him immunity from arrest on the proviso that he present himself before the courts on June 13. Though this was not in relation to any indictments for treason but vis-à-vis his appeal against the 2013 Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) ruling that barred him from elections for life. To date, the retired General has never had to answer for the original sin of his bloodless coup.

As things stand, therefore, the issue at hand hinges not so much on Musharraf’s calling time on his political reincarnation. But on his stubbornness in refusing to return to Pakistan and face due process. The courts have also declared him an “absconder” in the Benazir Bhutto case. Thus with the former President-General out of the scene, the security apparatus may or may not be breathing a collective sigh of relief. For from the offset this was always an untested experiment: a former Army chief serving as a civilian party leader. All of which has led to speculation that the military establishment may have closed ranks to save the man for whom they had so valiantly fought to secure honourable exit. And in return for ensuring that justice is not done, all Musharraf had to do was surrender his political ambitions.

Whether or not there is much truth to the above, one thing is clear.Without respect for due process — democratic Pakistan has nothing.  *

Published in Daily Times, June 23^rd 2018.