LAHORE: This is with reference to your report of January 19 titled “Musharraf delays return to Pakistan”. The decision makes sense in light of the following developments and realities. For starters, the military, which he used to head, is not in a position to help or shelter him. The PML-N is his enemy since, it was in power when Nawaz Sharif overthrew Musharraf’s government in 1999.
As far as the ruling PPP is concerned, it is already in a tussle with the judiciary and will hardly want to provide the general any kind of guarantee that he will not be arrested on arrival.
Then, there is the general’s own party, the All Pakistan Muslim League. As its recent rally showed in Karachi, it is not very popular and does not enjoy the kind of support that Musharraf would have liked to see, prior to his return to Pakistan.
And finally, there is Imran Khan’s PTI. While the general has said that he is open to an alliance with it, the latter’s chief has said that there is no room in the PTI for former dictators.
So quite clearly, it would make sense for the general to not return.
Sultan Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2012.
