Furore raised over Musharraf’s departure

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI:

The government weathered a storm of criticism from political circles on Friday as former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf flew out of Pakistan after three years.

Opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly mocked the government over its democratic principles for allowing a person booked for subverting the Constitution and murdering people to leave the country.



PTI leader Arif Alvi said the government had vowed to try Musharraf under Article 6 but embarrassed the nation by allowing him to travel abroad.

His party colleague Murad Saeed recalled a federal minister (Ahsan Iqbal) had vowed he would resign from his ministry if the ex-president was allowed to leave Pakistan.

PPP’s Shazia Marri pointed out that after promising to try Musharraf for treason, the government had allowed the ex-military ruler to leave – likening the move to its unfulfilled pledge to end power outages. “If we presented him a guard of honour, the current government called him a traitor then let him go,” she added.

The opposition lawmakers said the government was trying to take the cover of the Supreme Court order, but the top court never ordered striking Musharraf’s name off no-fly list and termed it government’s prerogative.

They said those who accused the former president of treason had become his facilitators in his exit from the country.



Protests to follow

Announcing countrywide protests against the decision, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto directed his party leaders to protest inside and outside the parliament against the decision.

In Lahore, the PPP held a protest against the PML-N government for allowing Musharraf to leave Pakistan.

A large number of protesters gathered outside the Lahore Press Club carrying placards and banners against the ruling party as well as the former military dictator.

PPP Lahore President Samina Khalid Ghurki said Nawaz Sharif had lost all moral ground to stay on as the prime minister after helping a dictator flee the country despite his nomination in assassination cases of Benazir Bhutto and Akbar Bugti.

‘Doctrine of necessity’

The Jamaat-e-Islami held the Supreme Court and the federal government responsible for allowing Musharraf to travel abroad.

“I am surprised how the court did not fulfil its responsibility and under the doctrine of necessity left the case at the mercy of the political government,” JI chief Sirajul Haq said while addressing a rally in Hyderabad on Friday.



The government, however, insisted Musharraf’s name was removed from the ECL in the light of Supreme Court orders.

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said the apex court upheld the Sindh High Court’s decision on ECL and there was no such example in history of the country.

He said the government could not stop the former president on basis of those cases which were being discussed and registering a new case against him was the only way to stop him.

Meanwhile in Dubai

Musharraf reached Dubai after leaving Karachi early Friday morning, hours after the government agreed to remove his name from the no-fly list. The former army chief flew out on an Emirates flight, which took off 15 minutes behind its schedule of 3:55am.

“I am going abroad for treatment but will return to face the cases against me,” a spokesman of All Pakistan Muslim League quoted Musharraf as saying. “I am a commando. I love my motherland.”

According to officials at the Karachi airport, the ex-president looked relaxed while boarding the flight.

“He was the last person to board the plane and then the gate was closed,” an airport insider told AFP.

Ghazi murder case

While hearing the appeal of Musharraf against his non-bailable arrest warrants issued in Abdul Rasheed Ghazi murder case, the Islamabad High Court directed the ex-president’s counsel to submit the interior ministry notification on deletion of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL) and the recent judgment of the Supreme Court allowing him to travel abroad.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2016.