Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Former President General (r) Pervez Musharraf could have survived the ‘Ides of March’ if he would stick to his decision of “giving another chance” to the then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, revealed Lt Gen (r) Hamid Javed in a detailed chat with Daily Times.

Gen Javed served as a chief of staff to the former president. He was one of the strongest men in Musharraf’s kitchen cabinet being a gatekeeper of Presidency and Camp Office of his boss.

He recalled how things turned topsy-turvy and one after another every decision backfired. “I would call it a sheer bad luck of General Musharraf that despite his honest intention to work with Justice Chaudhry, he could not,” he said. Without naming anyone he held some close advisers of Gen Musharraf responsible for misleading him on Justice Chaudhry’s issue.

Gen Javed recalled that just one week before the fateful morning of March 9, 2007, when Justice Chaudhry was asked to resign, Gen Musharraf was ready to withdraw a reference against him. But it did not happen and the decision dismissing Justice Chaudhry incurred massive backlash from the legal fraternity. Justice Chaudhry led marches from Islamabad to Lahore and built a strong public opinion against Gen Musharraf. It was Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan who personally drove Justice Chaudhry in his private car.

The former chief of staff said the then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his cabinet members were complaining to Gen Musharraf against the chief justice. The overturning of the Pakistan Steel Mills privatisation by the chief justice had made the bad blood between the federal government and the apex court. Same people warned Gen Musharraf that the chief justice would never allow him to hold both offices of the President of Pakistan and the Chief of Army Staff. “The president was least bothered about his cases. But he could not hide his frustration of government’s paralysis because of the apex court verdicts,” recalled Gen Javed.

The case of Steel Mills privatisation multiplied misunderstandings between the president and the chief justice. Before the apex court judgment, both of them had resolved to punish the corrupt elements vis-à-vis the privatisation of the Steel Mills. The chief justice had given solemn commitment that he would not obstruct the privatisation process. Gen Javed recalled that the apex court decision of halting the privatisation of the Steel Mills had left Gen Musharraf flabbergasted. He swallowed it like a bitter pill, but preferred not to initiate any action against the sitting chief justice.

Meanwhile, a couple of weeks before March 9, 2007, the presidential camp received a reference against Justice Chaudhry. “I personally read the entire reference and could not find anything significant against the chief justice. The government had failed to build a convincing case against him. I briefed the president accordingly,” he said, adding it took him an hour to convince his boss that he would be committing a fatal mistake if he sent the reference against the chief justice to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) for necessary action.

Gen Musharraf demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and others to take a final decision about the chief justice. The hawks prevailed upon Gen Musharraf. They convinced him that initiating action against the chief justice was the best option available for the president.

Gen Javed said the March 9 meeting was arranged on the request of Chief Justice Chaudhry. He wanted to clear the air and, therefore, held very open and frank discussion with the chief justice. “General Musharraf had to reach Karachi in the afternoon. He left directors general of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau to deal with the chief justice. He left for Karachi and what happened at the Camp Office added another sad chapter to the sorry history of Pakistan,” narrated Gen Javed.

In 2007, Gen Javed had told a few journalists that he was the only one in the presidential camp who maintained extremely good relations with the chief justice. “I had frequent telephonic talks with Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and met him often following the eruption of judicial crisis,” he then told the journalists.

General Javed asserted that he had opposed the imposition of emergency in November 2007. Once he realised that Gen Musharraf would not listen to his advice, he requested him to relieve him from the duty. His resignation was accepted on November 1, 2007, just two days before the emergency was imposed.

He recalled that Gen Musharraf liked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan a lot. Mr Khan had publicly supported the general in 2002 presidential referendum. Gen Musharraf wanted Mr Khan to join the government post 2002 elections, but was in no position to fulfil the latter’s demand of becoming the prime minister.

Gen Javed noted with extreme disappointment that despite his earnest advice, Gen Musharraf decided to come back to Pakistan before 2013 general elections. “I held a detailed discussion with him. I advised him to stay out of Pakistan since the political situation was not ripe for his return. He ignored my advice and whatever happened next is known to everyone,” he stated.

Gen Musharraf was made to believe by some of his political advisers that he would ride on a popularity wave upon his arrival in Pakistan. Because of legal complications and political immaturity, his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) could only win a single National Assembly seat from Chitral. Gen Musharraf once stated that he gauged his popularity from the number of followers he had attracted to his Facebook page.

Later, he was implicated in various criminal and civil cases. Meanwhile, the PML-N government initiated his treason trial. The former military dictator was barred from travelling abroad on medical grounds.

Analysts believe the case of high treason against a former Chief of Army Staff became a major reason for deteriorating civil-military relations. The frustration of soldiers multiplied seeing their former chief appearing in different courts and answering humiliating questions. There were threats to his life as well. Last month, Gen Musharraf was finally allowed to travel abroad on medical grounds. Since his return, he spent almost three years in Pakistan facing a rather tough time. While the government defended the decision of allowing Gen Musharraf to travel abroad, the opposition believed it was a ‘Faustian Bargain’ by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.