Adil Najam
Not totally unexpectedly, Gen. Pervez Musharraf has announced that he will return to active politics, that he will contest in the next elections whenever they are held, and that he will form a new political party. How do you react to this news? Is it great, good, irrelevant, bad, or terrible news? Cast your vote in our ATP Poll here and then, please, tell us why.
As you think about this, you may also like to revisit our August 2008 ATP Poll done right at the time of his departure, where we had asked what lay in Pakistan’s future after his departure: 30% said “everything will become much much worse” while another 30% said that “everything won’t become perfect, but things will improve.” Clearly a split decision.
We did a similar ATP Poll in October 2008 asking how people thought Pakistan had fared in the first two months without him: 31% said “everything became much much worse,” 24% said “only the faces changed, things are what they always were,” and 22% said “Everything hasn’t become perfect, but things have improved.”
Details of the news is still trickling in, but here are the essentials as reported in The Express Tribune:
Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has unveiled his plans to return to active politics, saying that he will contest the next general election in Pakistan.
Musharraf made the announced at a gathering of his supporters in Islamabad by teleconference. “I have decided to take part in Pakistan’s politics and I will contest the next elections, irrespective of whether they are mid-term or ends term elections,†he said in his brief address. A number of cases have been filed against Musharraf since the Supreme Court (SC) declared that the emergency imposed by him in 2007 was unconstitutional and illegal.
Musharraf said that he has received a lot of support from Pakistanis living abroad. “The Pakistanis I have met abroad have told me I should return to Pakistan,†he said. He remained secretive about his future plans saying that he would present his vision for Pakistan’s progress and the direction the country should take at a suitable time. “If you are with me, I will not let you down,†he added.
Musharraf asked his supporters to attend the Pasdare- Pakistan gathering on May 8 at the Islamabad Press Club. “Sitting on the sidelines of history never changed anything, become a part of positive change in Pakistan,†he added. Musharraf’s supporters have also launched a move to register a new party, The All Pakistan Muslim League.
Who is going to trial Musharraf? Iftikhar Chaudhry and his gang who are more interested in politics that solving cases of the common man ? I think Pakistani judges need to first learn that fair trials require impartial judges and juries….something they are distinctly not.
I still can’t figure out Chaudhry’s fiery denounciation of PCO judges when he himself is a PCO judge. No principle or law at work here.
In a land like Pakistan, where everyone has broken the law and taken advantage of situations, Mr Musharraf deserves equal chance like anyone else.
and apologizes to Chief Justice of Pakistan and his wife, with no ifs, buts and ands;
opens the financial sources of his party for public scrutiny;
and has an open process of election for the party ticket for the general election;
then I am also prepared to support him.
Personally, I would favor a truth commission where he and he co-usurpers, admit their guilt, once past the safe landing in of the PIA plane.
Sultan Musharraf at core a decent man gone wrong.
And everyone who does wrong, is entitled to get a chance to do it right.
If he stands trial and is acquitted or is pardoned through a truth and reconciliation commission after admitting that his coups were wrong … And then takes to constitutional politics …and drops crooks like Marvi Memon and Sher Afgan types… I might vote for him.
It’s irrelevant because he isn’t likely to get many votes. Moreover, if he returns to the country, he will first have to face the courts. In the very unlikely event that he does get past his cases and is able to contest elections, there will also be this problem of how he will behave with the judiciary that he brazenly demolished on Nov 3, even if he somehow gets elected into power. If it weren’t for that, one would have been able to argue that if he contests elections instead of ruling as a military dictator, then he offers an alternative to the PPP and PML-N. But now he brings too much baggage. All those who spent so much energy in the lawyers’ movement aren’t going to risk losing what they have accomplished by voting for him now. That means, he’s permanently lost the support of a significant part of the middle class, which could otherwise have been his constituency. The argument that he is necessary for the struggle against militancy has also lost its relevance, since he is gone, and the present govt and army leadership is actually more serious in fighting Taliban and their allies, as opposed to the half-hearted attempts by Mush and his double games.
The part where Mush might have an argument is that if Zardari can contest elections and become president despite being a known crook, and if NS can continue politics despite his history of corruption as well as his attack on the judiciary in 1997, why single out Musharraf? That is where the pro-NRO group, or those who think the courts should go soft on Zardari or NS because they have vote banks, will have a hard time arguing that Musharraf should be denied the opportunity to contest elections. But at the end of the day, it won’t really matter because (a) he’s probably not even going to come back to the country due to fear of prosecution and (b) he’s not going to get elected into power even if he returns and aggressively campaigns. The argument about whether someone who has commited a crime should be allowed to contest elections and allowed to rule the country, only has practical relevance for those who actually have the vote bank to get elected into power.
Upon his arrival a number of skeletons may come out of the closet and that is a mildly good news for the nation desperate for answers… He may even end up in jail… I hope “Altaf Bhai” also returns to accompany him…