Daily Times Editorial March 3, 2013

Musharraf’s return General (retd) Pervez Musharraf was known for chutzpah, amongst other things. Now, after five years of self-imposed exile that corresponds almost exactly with the tenure of the incumbent government and numerous false alarms during this time that he was about to return to the country and take politics by storm, we now have the ‘definitive’ return date. The good general has now declared from one of his watering holes (Dubai) that he will be back one week after the caretaker government takes over. The implication (unstated) is that Musharraf thinks a caretaker setup may go easier on him than the present outgoing one. Obviously, the need for this assessment/calculation is suggested by the fact that a number of cases loom like the Sword of Damocles over the general’s head. First and foremost, by now (albeit belatedly) he stands charged with Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, an accusation young Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has publicly endorsed on international television. Unfortunately the investigation into her murder and the subsequent trial have both proved unsatisfactory, for content as much as for pace. If this were not deterrent enough against risking his neck on Pakistani soil, the general may also have to face the music on the charge of the murder of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. The military establishment since that seminal event in 2006, which left the province of Balochistan even more disturbed and troubled than before, has been bending over backwards to absolve itself of any wrongdoing in this affair, ascribing Nawab sahib’s death to a whole range of explanations, from unknown causes to suicide. Yet facts are stubborn things, and the surreptitious manner in which Nawab Akbar Bugti’s body was hurriedly buried without allowing his family to carry out his last rites, puts us to greater shame even than India’s hanging of Afzal Guru in Tihar Jail and burying his body there without even the courtesy of informing his family. Then there are all manner and hue of Laal Masjid victims and their supporters waiting in the wings to bring Musharraf to justice. In case Musharraf is relying on the judicial system to save his neck, he should be aware that the superior judiciary he emasculated and dismissed under his Emergency in 2007 is unlikely to view him sympathetically. Musharraf intends to thrust his head into the lion’s den that awaits him in Pakistan, with speculations in the media that he may be relying on some guarantees against his arrest on arrival (a threat held out by the present government) from the Saudis, and the possible support of the military that might be reluctant to see a former COAS behind bars. That remains to be seen, although we know that such brokered ‘deals’ are the stuff of our history. Musharraf claims he represents the ‘third force’ in counterpoint to the PPP and PML-N. He claims his party will put up candidates on almost all the seats. However, two questions remain unanswered. One, his power base having evaporated over the last five years, what gives him the confidence about his chances at the hustings? Two, if his claim of putting up candidates on almost all seats is taken at face value, that sounds like a huge enterprise. Where will the funding come from? Has Musharraf made so much money on the international lecture circuit or has he found a powerful financier? All this is still in the realm of speculation. The existing or potential court cases against Musharraf mentioned above aside, what no one has said is whether Pakistan has evolved democratically to the point where a military coup maker can be held accountable for his violation of the constitution and attracting the provisions of Article 6. Yahya Khan was declared a usurper long after he was dead by our judiciary compromised in the past by its legitimisation of every dictator in our history. Have we turned the page and do we have the political will to bring this living dictator to book? Tall order, vital question.