General (retired) Pervez Musharraf reaches Dubai leaving behind several cases including that of high treason, non-bailable warrants of arrest and many unanswered questions about civil-military imbalance.
Interior Minister Ch Nisar Ali Khan said cases would continue in his absence. This is the least he could say in this situation. It was certainly a bold, though painful, decision for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and those PML-N leaders who suffered prison and humiliation during the rule of the military dictator.
Former President Musharraf has promised to return and it is hoped it would not be like the promise made by a former Pakistani ambassador. It is generally believed he may not return at least till the time Nawaz Sharif is in power. It is ironic that the opposition as well as anchors and analysts who were against the decision of allowing him to go blame the government. One wonders why Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PPP were so furious on this issue. Why Musharraf was not arrested for his alleged role in Benazir Bhutto's murder, and under Article VI on the day when he resigned as president. Taking credit by the PPP for removing him as president is not enough.
If Musharraf did not return for the trial, which appears to be a possibility, the government would certainly face a lot of criticism but it would also raise question about credibility of others.
Some of our defence analysts often believe that his case became a stumbling block in civil-military relationship even at the time of Imran Khan's dharna. Why civil-military imbalance always comes when civilians tried to enter the so called "grey areas?" Why such questions never raised when a former prime minister faced the trial? Why these questions were never asked at the time of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's execution, Benazir Bhutto’s long detention and trial, Nawaz Sharif's hijacking case? It appeared as in this country even a retired General is more powerful than an elected prime minister.
If you just go through the two trials, one against
Nawaz Sharif under Musharraf and one against Musharraf under Sharif, it would not be difficult to find the answer to this question. For two years, the General did not spend a night in prison whereas Sharif spent two years in captivity. Only once or twice Musharraf appeared in high treason case. He did not appear even once in Akbar Bugti and Lal Masjid cases. Sharif was produced in the court on every hearing. Sharif was allowed to leave the country under a written agreement while Musharraf was allowed to go abroad without any agreement.
High treason case from the day one was a non-starter.
Ch Nisar Ali Khan, the man who in the past had played a key role along with Shahbaz Sharif in making Musharraf the army chief had advised Sharif not to go for Article VI for trial of Musharraf.
Even during Imran Khan's dharna, it came as a stumbling block in civil-military relationship.
Sharif’s pain was different. He went through personal agony and had it not been Saudi intervention, the Musharraf government had moved for enhancement of the former prime minister's sentence from life to death.
He must not have forgotten and it’s difficult to forget that during the trial or in prison he was allowed a limited time to meet the family. When he invoked Article VI some of our defence analysts and anchors blamed him for personnel vendetta, as he was doing something extra constitutional. But what about Sharif's trial in
hijacking case?
Musharraf must have strong medical grounds to go abroad to get treatment. He was ill and if there is no treatment for his ailment in Pakistan, there was no harm in sending him for treatment. Like any prisoner the former president also deserved justice and when he was disqualified from contesting elections before even convicted justice was not done with him.
But the story does not end here. In the last two years he was hardly been produced in any court in different cases.He was practically a free man since the day he was shifted to home and not for a single day went to any lock up or jail. All prisons and lock ups are for civil rulers and politicians and not for "holy cows."
In contrast when Dr Asim Hussain, a former adviser to chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, wasshifted to a private room for medical treatment, all special facilities were withdrawn and on his demand he was told, "Prisoners can't get such facilities."
No sympathy with Dr Asim, and if the court finds him guilty he must be punished. But here is a tale of two prisoners and the question of medical treatment. One was facing charges of corruption while the other charge of high treason and cases like murder.
Besides, have you ever heard a murder case in which an accused was acquitted without being produced in the court? Have you ever heard a case in which an accused was allowed to go abroad after non-bailable warrant of arrest, go to hospital under official escort without the permission of the court?
In contrast, here is an elected prime minister, who on Oct 12, 1999 was not only removed but humiliated, not only at the PM House, but also when he was escorted in a plane to Karachi. One of Sharif's closest aides Saeed Mehdi once gave account of those events.
So, it was in this background that one could say it was not an easy decision, rather painful for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif when he gave the "NOC" and allowed former military dictator to fly to Dubai on Thursday. Most of those who were part of consultation in the last two days were the one who were badly treated and humiliated after the October 1999 coup.
This scribe had witnessed many trials faced by the civil rulers and politicians, from Benazir Bhutto to Asif Ali Zardari, from Jam Saqi to Nawaz Sharif. As a student of politics I had also read and recorded what happened in the famous trial of
"hijacking". I had covered this trial as a journalist in Karachi when Sharif and others were brought in Armored Personnel Career from Landhi jail.
Why we have Article VI in the Constitution if it can't be invoked. Those who abrogated the Constitution are the one who also get indemnity from the handpicked judiciary under so called Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).
The best option for the Parliament is to remove this article in any future amendment. In this way, at least the sanctity of the Constitution would be upheld. The dictator is gone for "treatment," long live democracy. I wish General a happy and healthy life, but one knows how painful this decision was for Sharif. If in this way democracy is saved, it’s not a bad deal.
The writer is the senior columnist and analyst of Geo, The News and Jang.