The case of high treason against General Musharraf was filed by the Nawaz regime in 2013. The proceedings linger on as it was based on the allegations upon which former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, went on backfoot with the backdoor diplomacy. He sent a message through Chaudhry Nisar and Shehbaz Sharif that the further proceedings would not be attended by Attorney General of Pakistan. Yet, later his partisans made him fight with the hawkish line and length. The former dictator was charged with conviction. Soon after he had broken the promise, crises started for the tenure of Sharif. He took Musharraf as his political opponent and thought that he will avenge the person due to whom he had to face the conundrums of exile. In the verdict that came on December 17, 2019, the mandatory procedure (as set in High Treason Act, 1973, as well as Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1976) had not been followed in the letter and spirit. The permission was not been taken by the federal government, and the lawyer of Musharraf was not given a chance to plead his client’s case. General (Retd) Musharraf had various qualities of statesmanship. He was a man of valour. He had kept his position intact and unsullied from the world until he left the government. The remotest connection that excited suspicion was foreign to his nature. The Agra Summit brought fruitful results as the talks for a bitter issue like Kashmir were initiated while the hostility was put to an end. Musharraf attended many meetings of this summit and negotiated with Vajpayee on an equal status. Indian Army Chief Gen VK Singh commended Musharraf’s courage and said, “At the junction of Kargil in 1999, it was rattlingly unbelievable that as a military commander, Gen Musharraf came 11 km inside Indian territory to stay with his troops for a night. It is the courage of a military commander that he came so far knowing that there was danger.” Musharraf’s reign was stellar as he tackled many matters with courage That was a very historic and holistic approach. Yet Sharif came under the pressure of US President Bill Clinton and called off troops back. Resultantly, many Pakistani soldiers were martyred. My mentor and former Punjab Police Inspector-General, Saadat Allah Khan, said that the Musharraf’s verdict stank of brazen bias and venomous vendetta. What fall! He condemned the decision of hatred, which had deflected the whole nation. Judge Justice Waqar Seth wrote the ferocious sentence, “If he dies before the capital punishment, his body should be hanged for three days,” in the judgement. He was hauled by Federal Law Minister, Farogh Nasim, while a case was also registered against him in Supreme Judicial Council. Justice Shahid Karim, however, did not ratify this sentence and said that only capital punishment was enough. Meanwhile, Justice Nazir Akbar said that prosecution was weak and there was no sufficient evidence, so the death penalty was not justifiable. Justice Karim has mostly handled cases in the corporate sector and, thus, giving such disgruntled judgement is not his cup of tea. It was probably managed by some other fraction, which wants turbulence within the state. However, being on one side, the government and military didn’t let it obnubilate the whole scenario and cleared their position. General Musharraf vowed to serve the nation with the slogan “Sab Se Pehle Pakistan,” which he tried subsequently with his statesman spirit. Musharraf’s reign was stellar as he tackled many matters with courage. In August 2008, when he had to resign, he clarified, “When I took over, nine years ago, this country was on the verge of being declared a terrorist state, on the verge of becoming a failed state.” He said, “The challenges of the last nine years have been greater than any in Pakistan’s history, yet I have met those challenges.” Many historians and thinktanks have ratified what Musharraf said because of the ramifications of when he started ruling in June 2001. At that point, a very severe tilt in Pakistan’s policy was must in the aura of stabilisation. Many projects initiated in the era of Musharraf are now reinstated by the current government because they were observed to be successful. Senior Journalist Faisal Adrees Butt said that Musharraf used to be very friendly when he was president. He used to meet and greet journalists late at night at Marriott Hotel and eloquently discussed matters of state with them. In 2010, Musharraf founded his political party All Pakistan Muslim League. If he feared facing conviction, he would have not formed a political entity. The case against him was made seven years after he had left Pakistan. It was biased. Musharraf, in his book, “In the Line of Fire,” noted that he was kept in a room when he landed in Pakistan and other core commanders decided that he would continue after the coup. The objective of this coup was to economically revive Pakistan; alleviate poverty; restructure politics and devolve power at the grassroots level. The methodology, which he chose to opt was based on the following agenda: Rebuilding national confidence and morale; Strengthening the federation; Removal of inter-provincial strife; Rebooting the economy of Pakistan; Making accountability process transparent; Containment and consolidation of his power policy. The referendum that happened in 2002 was also conjoined by Imran Khan and MMA for the sole purpose of establishing their rule. In 2003 and 2005, his car was attacked by planting a bomb on his route. Moreover, the NRO signed on October 5, 2007, granted amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of embezzlement. It also allowed them to contest the upcoming elections of 2008. It is also due to Musharraf that these two parties got the chance to get themselves elected again and rule the country. Repercussions were vicious. In the vicinity, India mongered it as a negative tenet and criticised Pakistan that this decision blundered the civil-military relations. However, the civil-military institutions have proved that they are on the same page. Even the opposition also didn’t hail this decision as expected. Only Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan has commemorated this. No response came from the core leadership of Pakistan Muslim League (N) as this was a disguise for the country and has deteriorating impacts. No one has the right to suggest any punishment for the former ruler because he took beneficial decisions for Pakistan in the set of benchmarks. There were full-fledged protests and people put the copies of the verdict to fire the protestors. These were not sporadic but seen all over Pakistan. They dismissed this decision and aggressively reacted against it. People’s democratic dictatorship is a phrase incorporated into the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, passed by the fifth Congress in 1982. Former Punjab CM once said that Pak-China friendship was higher than the Himalayas, deeper than the ocean, sweeter than honey and stronger than steel. Hence, I would use this metaphor to stress that Musharraf’s era was essential to revamping the structure of Pakistan. He is a patriot and took all necessary measures for the betterment of citizens. Thus, his dictatorship can also be justified as nothing other than some minor human errors for which he has already sown repentance. So, forgiveness shall reap. The writer regularly contributes to the Daily Times on social, political and international affairs