Honour available to chosen ones only

ISLAMABAD: As per the standard practice, every genuinely-elected or puppet prime minister does receive the traditional guard of honour from a contingent of the armed forces on assumption of office as Shahid Khaqan Abbasi did, but every premier, especially the popular ones, is not accorded a warm send-off.

However, the case of dictators is different. They don’t end up in jail and also evade dismissals although their have always been unceremonious because of their total rejection by the people at large. But they still are not ill-treated and are allowed to live peacefully, enjoying several perks and privileges.

In the recent history, Pervez Musharraf was given a guard of honour in 2008 when he was forced by politicians to vacate the presidency that he had enjoyed for eight years through unconstitutional means. Although he had been held responsible by the Supreme Court for violation of the Constitution by imposing the state of emergency and had been accused of high treason, he relished in the luxury of the guard of honour that he had insisted to get.

During his stints, Nawaz Sharif received the guard of honour as the prime minister for at least thrice when he had assumed the office, but failed to get the same when he left it on his own or was forced to go.

For the first time, he vacated the office as per an arrangement brokered by the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen Abdul Waheed Kakar, in 1993 under which President Ghulam Ishaq had also to step down. As the luck would have it, Nawaz Sharif was not taken to jail straight from the Prime Minister’s House at the time. But it was ensured that he loses the following general elections.

For the second time, he was driven from the prime minister’s house to a dungeon where he was kept incommunicado for months when Musharraf imposed martial law on October 12, 1999. Question of a parting guard of honour did not arise. The next 14 months were worst for him due to protracted incarceration during which he was imposed heavy terms of imprisonment in the cooked up plane hijacking and helicopter cases. This was the time when he was handcuffed and once tied with the seat of a plane while being transported to Karachi from Islamabad. His tormentors had dreamed to finish him off politically, but they were sadly mistaken as he returned to power a few years later as a genuine popular leader.

For the third time, he has been ousted due to his disqualification by the Supreme Court on a weak ground. The way he has been booted out, according of a ceremonious welcome send-off was out of question. This time too, the plan is to end his political career by arresting him and his family members, but such a move would certainly embellish his political career and would not adversely impact him in any way. Already, his ineligibility on an unconvincing ground has benefited him politically.

Among the popularly elected prime ministers, who were deprived of the guard of honor on their ouster from office Zulfikar Ali Bhutto shines tremendously. He too was overthrown by the military dictator, Gen Ziaul Haq, who later sent him to gallows in a murder case. His judicial murder is still fresh in many minds as Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification will remain fresh in memory.

Two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto was also sent home unceremoniously when she was ousted from power on charges of corruption by then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan in 1990. Second time Benazir Bhutto's was dismissed by President Farooq Leghari in 1996 amid allegations of widespread corruption and economic incompetence. 

The gentleman prime minister, Mohammad Khan Junejo, was also muzzled by the dictator’s boots. He was spared imprisonment. Accord of a guard of honour after his dismissal was unthinkable. Same was the case of Yousaf Raza Gilani and several other prime ministers of the fifties.

Naturally, every prime minister feels exalted when he receives the guard of honour on his first day in office, but most of them are not lucky enough to get the same on their departure. However, dummies like Shaukat Aziz did receive such honour if it can be so called.