Charging Musharraf

Three years may have passed since General Pervez Musharraf was forced from power but even now the task of recovering from his decade-long reign is far from over. Justice, for one, has yet to be served to a man who tried hard to pervert the course of justice through his meddling in judicial matters. This is the key to understanding why a local magistrate in Balochistan has just issued arrest warrants for Musharraf and former prime minister Shaukat Aziz among others for the murder of Akbar Bugti. Of course, these warrants should have been issued a long time ago, especially given that both respondents are no longer in Pakistan. But it makes us feel better knowing that those who hurt this country through their illegitimate rule are not likely to come back thanks to the courts.

Reasonable people may disagree about whether the military action Musharraf took against Bugti constituted murder. What no one can deny is that Bugti’s killing reignited the uprising in Balochistan and contributed greatly to the rise of separatist sentiment in the province. For that, Musharraf should have to face the music. His actions are made all the more galling by the fact that he had no mandate to carry out this operation. The upshot of his dictatorial rule is that even when he undertook military and police operations against militants, as was the case in Lal Masjid, it led to far more anger than when civilian governments did the same thing.

The sad fact is that Musharraf will never be held fully accountable for the damage he did to the country. Despite his repeated assertions that he will return to Pakistan any day now, the truth is that he is unlikely to leave his comfortable life in London, where he gets paid to pontificate on politics and deliver diatribes against those politicians who actually have a public to answer to. As for Shaukat Aziz, he flew into the country when he was offered a position of power and he flew right out when the party was over. The only consolation we can get is that they were ignominiously drummed out of power.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st,  2011.