fatman17
PDF THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2007
- Messages
- 32,563
- Reaction score
- 98
- Country
- Location
A dictator's 'akhri mukka'
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Shamshad Ahmad
In our country, the combative politics is no less than a boxing bout with winners and losers both playing the game of power and intrigue and sharing the bounty together through wheeling and dealing with the collusion of match fixers. In an apocalyptic war of one against all since March 2007, surely the last round went to General Musharraf.
In the first round, he attempted a 'technical knock-out' by challenging the chief justice through an illegal 'presidential reference' but failed because the latter stood up to fight back. The referee, in this case the newly independent judiciary, grasped the public mood around the ring and quickly ruled in favour of the chief justice. Musharraf drew the media's wrath and civil society's outrage for not playing a fair game. Though bruised, he very much remained in the ring.
General Musharraf was already applying ruthless means of staying in the ring no matter what the rules of the game were or the public at large thought of him. But his final 'knock-out' blow or what he himself described as his 'akhri mukka' came in the form of Washington-brokered National Reconciliation Ordinance(NRO), which left Pakistan's largest political party totally discredited in the eyes of the people. This is exactly what General Musharraf wanted at that crucial stage for his last-minute political survival.
By allowing amnesty for all politically-motivated corruption charges between January 1986 to October 1999 in the name of national reconciliation and political harmony, General Musharraf in fact killed two birds with one stone. He managed to besmear the image of Pakistan's politicians as he had depicted them in his book In the Line of Fire. He also neutralised the country's largest political party in his controversial bid for another five-year term.
He scored a clean knock-out against an anguished and exhausted opposition by sowing discord into their ranks and undermining their political functionality in the crucial hour of crisis. He did it with acumen and sophistry. Musharraf promulgated the NRO on October 5, 2007 and the very next day, he got himself re-elected in violation of the constitution. As the PPP stood by, his own political bulwark, the then Queue League voted en bloc for his re-election while he was still in uniform as army chief.
The NRO, thus, bared the true face of Pakistan's corrupt and self-serving politicians with voracious appetite for "loot and plunder" that General Musharraf had been trying to flag to the people all along since he came to power, seeking to justify military take-overs in the country. Irreparable damage no doubt was done to the country's politicians who were being punched below the belt and forced to take a full step back. The PPP, however, was the main casualty.
This tactical deal secured General Musharraf's re-election, and also paved the way, if things were to go as choreographed by the script writers in Washington, for a power-sharing arrangement in the new post-election political dispensation in Pakistan. The US wanted Musharraf to remain in presidential saddle at any cost. This could be done only through the same assemblies which had elected him once, and were now themselves breathing their last and completing their own tenure.
This was clearly a controversial course of action involving constitutional subversion and judicial circumvention. It is no secret that this innocuously named law promulgated by a dictator was pushed through at the behest of the US only to withdraw criminal cases against the PPP leaders as a quid pro quo for General Musharraf's re-election in violation of Pakistan's constitution.
A dubious power-sharing deal was cobbled together to make a dictator acceptable to the outside world with a civilian face placed on his shoulders in the iconic person of Benazir Bhutto as his prime minister. Under this arrangement, she was to return to Pakistan to be elected as prime minister while General Musharraf was to shed his uniform and continue to be the president in the new political dispensation.
Chaudhry Shujaat who headed Musharraf's Q-League at that time was forthright in acknowledging that the NRO was only a tactical move to gain political mileage that had carried through. According to him, their gambit succeeded in getting Musharraf re-elected for another term by the same assemblies without any trouble. Later, when prodded by Musharraf, Chaudhry Shujaat clarified that he had made those remarks only as a joke.
Even if it was a joke, it was only a truthful reflection of the familiar bluff politics that had already been played as a joke upon the people of Pakistan for the last eight years of the Musharraf era. Eventually, it became a cruel joke as things got messy with Washington-scripted choreography. The NRO was challenged in the courts of law. The coming events quickly started casting their shadows. General Musharraf sensed trouble for his ambitious political future. He tried to persuade BB not to return to Pakistan.
But she returned with a bang and soon discovered the real mood of the people. She also heard their clarion call: "Go Musharraf, go." She spontaneously started pursuing the roadmap envisaged in the Charter of Democracy that she had co-authored with PML-N's leader Nawaz Sharif in August 2006. A democrat to the core, Benazir Bhutto could not let her name be slurred with that of a dictator. She realised democracy will not return through dubious deals, and joined the people in their struggle against Musharraf's November 3 assault on the constitution and judiciary.
Addressing the rally at Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007, Benazir Bhutto told her supporters: "I put my life in danger and came here because I feel this country is in danger. People are worried. We will bring the country out of this crisis." She also alluded to the dangers she faced, as she had been doing ever since she returned to Pakistan in October after a long self-imposed exile. Within minutes after she left the rally, she was targeted and killed under most tragic and bewildering circumstances.
No one knows who killed her and why? We didn't even investigate the murder. The state was again being complacent in its constitutional obligations. Meanwhile, the country has drifted into an abysmal political chaos and confusion. No one knows what lies ahead for this tortured nation, which stands completely torn apart and emotionally shattered. With a dictator's legacy, the notorious 17th Amendment still intact, the country remains shorn of genuine democracy.
What an irony that Pakistan's largest people-based party, the PPP has not recovered from Musharraf's 'akhri mukka' and is reeling flat on the ground disgraced and demoralised. It would have been far better for its post-Benazir Bhutto leadership to have relied on free courts rather than muddying themselves with a dictator's legacy. The NRO was an outright constitutional subversion and a judicial circumvention. It is already dead.
But the ruling PPP is stuck with this albatross until the cases cleared under this defunct ordinance are settled by courts, one way or the other. The PPP government can no longer continue to scapegoat Musharraf for its own errors of judgment and governance failures. It must recognise the gravity of increasing corruption and its own credibility deficit with the people.
Nobody wants to see the system being derailed. But no system can last by using names and showing photos, nor with continuing constitutional aberrations and governance miscarriages. The 17th Amendment must go immediately restoring the constitution as it stood on October 12, 1999 before it is too late.
The writer is a former foreign secretary. Email: shamshad1941@yahoo.com
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Shamshad Ahmad
In our country, the combative politics is no less than a boxing bout with winners and losers both playing the game of power and intrigue and sharing the bounty together through wheeling and dealing with the collusion of match fixers. In an apocalyptic war of one against all since March 2007, surely the last round went to General Musharraf.
In the first round, he attempted a 'technical knock-out' by challenging the chief justice through an illegal 'presidential reference' but failed because the latter stood up to fight back. The referee, in this case the newly independent judiciary, grasped the public mood around the ring and quickly ruled in favour of the chief justice. Musharraf drew the media's wrath and civil society's outrage for not playing a fair game. Though bruised, he very much remained in the ring.
General Musharraf was already applying ruthless means of staying in the ring no matter what the rules of the game were or the public at large thought of him. But his final 'knock-out' blow or what he himself described as his 'akhri mukka' came in the form of Washington-brokered National Reconciliation Ordinance(NRO), which left Pakistan's largest political party totally discredited in the eyes of the people. This is exactly what General Musharraf wanted at that crucial stage for his last-minute political survival.
By allowing amnesty for all politically-motivated corruption charges between January 1986 to October 1999 in the name of national reconciliation and political harmony, General Musharraf in fact killed two birds with one stone. He managed to besmear the image of Pakistan's politicians as he had depicted them in his book In the Line of Fire. He also neutralised the country's largest political party in his controversial bid for another five-year term.
He scored a clean knock-out against an anguished and exhausted opposition by sowing discord into their ranks and undermining their political functionality in the crucial hour of crisis. He did it with acumen and sophistry. Musharraf promulgated the NRO on October 5, 2007 and the very next day, he got himself re-elected in violation of the constitution. As the PPP stood by, his own political bulwark, the then Queue League voted en bloc for his re-election while he was still in uniform as army chief.
The NRO, thus, bared the true face of Pakistan's corrupt and self-serving politicians with voracious appetite for "loot and plunder" that General Musharraf had been trying to flag to the people all along since he came to power, seeking to justify military take-overs in the country. Irreparable damage no doubt was done to the country's politicians who were being punched below the belt and forced to take a full step back. The PPP, however, was the main casualty.
This tactical deal secured General Musharraf's re-election, and also paved the way, if things were to go as choreographed by the script writers in Washington, for a power-sharing arrangement in the new post-election political dispensation in Pakistan. The US wanted Musharraf to remain in presidential saddle at any cost. This could be done only through the same assemblies which had elected him once, and were now themselves breathing their last and completing their own tenure.
This was clearly a controversial course of action involving constitutional subversion and judicial circumvention. It is no secret that this innocuously named law promulgated by a dictator was pushed through at the behest of the US only to withdraw criminal cases against the PPP leaders as a quid pro quo for General Musharraf's re-election in violation of Pakistan's constitution.
A dubious power-sharing deal was cobbled together to make a dictator acceptable to the outside world with a civilian face placed on his shoulders in the iconic person of Benazir Bhutto as his prime minister. Under this arrangement, she was to return to Pakistan to be elected as prime minister while General Musharraf was to shed his uniform and continue to be the president in the new political dispensation.
Chaudhry Shujaat who headed Musharraf's Q-League at that time was forthright in acknowledging that the NRO was only a tactical move to gain political mileage that had carried through. According to him, their gambit succeeded in getting Musharraf re-elected for another term by the same assemblies without any trouble. Later, when prodded by Musharraf, Chaudhry Shujaat clarified that he had made those remarks only as a joke.
Even if it was a joke, it was only a truthful reflection of the familiar bluff politics that had already been played as a joke upon the people of Pakistan for the last eight years of the Musharraf era. Eventually, it became a cruel joke as things got messy with Washington-scripted choreography. The NRO was challenged in the courts of law. The coming events quickly started casting their shadows. General Musharraf sensed trouble for his ambitious political future. He tried to persuade BB not to return to Pakistan.
But she returned with a bang and soon discovered the real mood of the people. She also heard their clarion call: "Go Musharraf, go." She spontaneously started pursuing the roadmap envisaged in the Charter of Democracy that she had co-authored with PML-N's leader Nawaz Sharif in August 2006. A democrat to the core, Benazir Bhutto could not let her name be slurred with that of a dictator. She realised democracy will not return through dubious deals, and joined the people in their struggle against Musharraf's November 3 assault on the constitution and judiciary.
Addressing the rally at Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007, Benazir Bhutto told her supporters: "I put my life in danger and came here because I feel this country is in danger. People are worried. We will bring the country out of this crisis." She also alluded to the dangers she faced, as she had been doing ever since she returned to Pakistan in October after a long self-imposed exile. Within minutes after she left the rally, she was targeted and killed under most tragic and bewildering circumstances.
No one knows who killed her and why? We didn't even investigate the murder. The state was again being complacent in its constitutional obligations. Meanwhile, the country has drifted into an abysmal political chaos and confusion. No one knows what lies ahead for this tortured nation, which stands completely torn apart and emotionally shattered. With a dictator's legacy, the notorious 17th Amendment still intact, the country remains shorn of genuine democracy.
What an irony that Pakistan's largest people-based party, the PPP has not recovered from Musharraf's 'akhri mukka' and is reeling flat on the ground disgraced and demoralised. It would have been far better for its post-Benazir Bhutto leadership to have relied on free courts rather than muddying themselves with a dictator's legacy. The NRO was an outright constitutional subversion and a judicial circumvention. It is already dead.
But the ruling PPP is stuck with this albatross until the cases cleared under this defunct ordinance are settled by courts, one way or the other. The PPP government can no longer continue to scapegoat Musharraf for its own errors of judgment and governance failures. It must recognise the gravity of increasing corruption and its own credibility deficit with the people.
Nobody wants to see the system being derailed. But no system can last by using names and showing photos, nor with continuing constitutional aberrations and governance miscarriages. The 17th Amendment must go immediately restoring the constitution as it stood on October 12, 1999 before it is too late.
The writer is a former foreign secretary. Email: shamshad1941@yahoo.com
