Musharraf’s rough landing

Chief Justice at the last minute has separated himself from the bench hearing pleas against Musharraf.

Former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, soon after arriving back in the country on March 24, has landed straight into what could prove to be serious trouble. Completing, in a manner of speaking, a long cycle of connected events, a three-member bench of the apex court has admitted for hearing two pleas seeking that the former dictator be charged under Article 6 of the Constitution of Pakistan, on charges of treason. The pleas have been filed by the Rawalpindi Chapter of the Lahore High Court Bar Association and a former president of the same bar association. They refer, of course, to measures taken by Musharraf in 2007, suspending the then judges of the Supreme Court, and ordering their detention. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the chief victim of that action, was to hear the case as head of the bench, however, at the last minute, in a judicious act, he separated himself from the bench. Indeed, this should not be a matter of vengeance or revenge. We have seen too much of that already through our troubled history.

The case against Musharraf needs to be heard dispassionately. But if indeed the former dictator is found guilty of subverting the Constitution, through the imposition of Emergency on November 3,  2007, which led to a clamp down on media channels and the action against the judiciary, he must indeed pay for his crimes. This, after all, is what justice is, and should be, all about. Even now it seems General (retd) Musharraf has not quite realised the playing field should be even for all, speaking of feelings of ‘embarrassment’ and ‘humiliation’ when he appeared before the Sindh High Court to seek an extension in bail.

It will be fascinating to see how this case unfolds. The military, too, will be keeping an eye on things; it would be unrealistic not to expect this. However, for us as a nation what is most important is that a precedent be set; that any violations of the law be duly penalised so that rulers of the future think a few times before indulging in acts of the kind the former president indulged in.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 8^th, 2013.