Go Musharraf!

At a time when the term ‘accountability’ is being bandied about a bit too freely, we have the mockery of someone guilty as sin being free as a bird. Not that anyone interrupted Retd General Pervez Musharraf’s siestas here or spoiled the fun he was all too wont to have at hospital whenever faced with a court order. But after the PML-N government allowed the former military dictator a passage to Dubai for ‘medical treatment’, it did not take him more than a few hours to recover miraculously and start political activities with renewed vigour. Musharraf continues to face charges in a case about the Lal Masjid operation. He also faces treason charges for the emergency declared in the same year under which he then ‘dismissed’ the then chief justice and other judges appointed to the superior courts. The government says Musharraf has committed himself to coming back and facing trial. We can wait till the cows come home.

The script played out exactly like everyone thought it would, even if it took a lot longer than expected. Musharraf was never going to be subjected to a treason trial, let alone be convicted. The only uncertainty was how a once boastful government would get out of the situation it had gotten itself into by talking a great deal about pursuing all the cases against Musharraf. It got an opportunity to have mercy on itself when the Supreme Court upheld a Sindh High Court decision to remove Musharraf from the Exit Control List. The SC was careful in saying that the government or the special court hearing Musharraf’s treason case still retained the right to restrict his movement. But that was never going to happen – the precedent of a military man (that too, a former army chief) being tried and convicted in a civilian court, or any court for that matter. The PML-N in any case was more interested in pursuing its own governing agenda rather than deal with what very conveniently became a distraction.

It didn’t help that the government was weakened by the drama that was Imran Khan’s dharna, and became preoccupied with its own survival. Musharraf does owe Imran Khan a few words of thanks – notwithstanding the PTI’s feigned outrage over the affair. The other opposition party using Musharraf’s departure as a cudgel with which to beat the government is the PPP. Its chairman Bilawal Zardari has said that his party will protest outside parliament against Musharraf’s departure. He has castigated the government for letting free the man he holds responsible for the murder of his mother. Weak memory, it seems, serves the budding politician well. But it can also make quite a few stomachs churn. It was the PPP that, during its tenure in power, had presented Musharraf with a guard of honour before giving him a great see-off out of the country. The PML-N has only followed the example set by the PPP after, at least, something like a struggle.

Musharraf was undeniably at fault for snatching power, tearing up the constitution and setting back the cause of democracy by a decade. He treated the institutions of the country with unconcealed disdain. Putting him on trial was never about vengeance against one person; we were meant to demonstrate that never again would we allow a usurper in power to cast himself as a saviour. Yes, even if failure was ‘pre-ordained’, it was an effort worth the try. In 2007 the people of this country stood up to a dictator and gained the sort of moral, psychological, social and political ground for our politicians that they had rarely had before. It’s been some time since that ground was abjectly surrendered to serve the interest of those tainted by the NRO and those who followed them with their own petty political and personal agendas. Our political class should reflect on how easily they were co-opted in pursuit of power. And so should we. The political players have once more contributed to the frittering away of democratic power and the rise once more of the old spectre in which a man accused of multiple crimes committed against the nation and in violation of the constitution has been able to essentially get away scot-free. Our fledgling democracy should not be taken for granted but the government has done just that.