Musharraf
By Dr Farrukh Saleem

No ordinary citizen is he – and that is because of three reasons. First, of the 180 million citizens of this country his life is under the most serious of all threats. Second, he is Pakistan’s ex-president. Third, he is the Pakistan Army’s ex-chief of army staff (COAS). It is, therefore, the state of Pakistan’s moral, as well as legal obligation, to protect its ex-president. It is, therefore, the Pakistan Army’s moral as well as legal obligation to keep its ex-COAS from harm’s way.

Next. Musharraf has been accused of a whole host of very serious allegations; the ‘Judges’ detention case’, ‘the Benazir murder case’, ‘the Akbar Bugti case’ and the ‘Lal Masjid case’. Musharraf is now both under moral as well as legal obligation to defend himself – or be defended – at each and every competent forum. And no competent forum ought to forward any concession whatsoever.

To be certain, Musharraf has been accused – he has not been convicted. Musharraf must, therefore, be presumed to be innocent. As a matter of fact, Pakistan’s legal history is a story of hunters and the preyed whereby the law has been used and abused as a mere instrument in the hands of the hunter. And, as history repeats itself, roles are reversed every ten years – the hunter becomes the prey and the prey the hunter. Is that the rule of law or the rule of the jungle?

Some 14 years ago, Musharraf was the hunter. To be sure, 14 years ago, Musharraf had three full sets of abettors – generals, judges and politicians. Fourteen years ago, the generals with their guns, the judges with their judgements and the politicians with their own bags of tricks instigated, assisted and encouraged the hunter in his hunt. Isn’t that the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God?

The ‘original sin’ took place in October 1999 and the ‘Judges’ detention case’, ‘the Benazir murder case’, ‘the Akbar Bugti case’ and the ‘Lal Masjid case’ are all its offspring. Remember, every parliamentarian swears that he will perform his “functions honestly, to the best of my ability, faithfully, in accordance with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”

Every chief justice, a high court judge and a judge of the Supreme Court solemnly swears to “discharge my duties, and perform my functions, honestly, to the best of my ability and faithfully in accordance with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the law.”

Every member of the armed forces solemnly swears “that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan and uphold the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.” How could the generals, the judges and the politicians then sit back and condone October 1999 (remember, the 17th Amendment)? But they all did. How was November 2007 different from October 1999? Isn’t that the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God?

For five long years, an elected government didn’t do a thing about November 2007. The caretakers have now refused to take any action either. The truth is that we have all done wrong – let’s begin from there or we won’t ever be able to move forward. Let’s end the hunt.

If Voltaire is to be believed, “It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.”

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com.

Twitter: @saleemfarrukh