We have a new “first” in our history. A former military ruler faces treason charges for acts committed during his tenure in power. The Nawaz Sharif government has brought a case for high treason, which carries a maximum penalty of death under Pakistani law, against former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, who ruled the country from 1999 to 2008. Aside from his illegal takeover of power in 1999, overthrowing the elected Sharif government, the emergency he declared in November 2007, suspending the superior judiciary, clamping down on the media and other basic rights have been widely interpreted as acts of treason. The Supreme Court had already said it was the government, which was required to bring a treason case against General (retd) Musharraf, who currently remains under house arrest in Islamabad.
There can be no doubt the PML-N government needs to be congratulated for its courage in taking this step. It could prove vital to our future. Doing the “right thing” has never been a pressing priority in the country, especially when it comes to issues related to the military. This time round, things could change. As citizens, we must hope this will indeed happen, setting a key precedent for the future. The appearance of General (retd) Musharraf in court for treason should certainly make others think harder before taking similar steps in undermining democracy, seizing power and subverting the Constitution.
General (retd) Musharraf’s lawyer has immediately dismissed the move as a means to distract people from other problems, such as the energy and the economic crises. But this may be too simplistic a view of the development. The key question for Pakistan will be how the military reacts to the action against General (retd) Musharraf and what the final outcome is to be. Certainly, the court proceedings themselves will be closely followed and each statement made during them carefully noted. This, in itself, is extremely significant in the light of our history, where domination by the military has blighted democracy, and in fact, made it impossible for elected governments to operate. Perhaps, things will now change. We must hope this is the case.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (14)
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@hamza khan: "nonsense. complete and utter nonsense." And very bitter too, difficult to swallow also if one really has only one sided ticket.
I have seen several comments in his support in this news paper, people has the democratic right to express their views but my question to all these supporters is whether General Musharraf has violated the constitution of Pakistan. To outsiders like myself, yes, he has in 1999 and 2007, another question is whether they have any respect for their country's constitution. Sure, these military dictators world over never respected their constitutions and specially who could forget when General Zia stated about Pakistani Constitution that it was a piece of paper which could be torn into thousand pieces and he did figuratively. If Pakistanis will ever respect their constitution and the laws of the land , then we will not be supporting military take overs by these Bonaparte with the barrel of the gun. Yes, it is very possible that Pakistan will be a very different country in the 21st Century as a stable democracy. Musharraf should be provide the utmost facilities to have his case presented in the court of law and the justices should see to it that they are bending backward to be fair to him and let the world know that Pakistan judiciary could also match any country's judiciary for being fair. If found guilty then he should be given the maximum punishment considering the political situation at that time but not hanging him under any circumstances as they did to ZAB.
@Shakir Lakhani:
well said. however, i dont believe the intention was to 'sack' the CJ. a completly legal and legitimate reference was filed to investigate charges of wrongdoing, serious charges. he never ever faced any scrutiny of those charges, and his actions after reinstatement have proven the man has diabolical intentions. he has settled personal vendettas thru his role at the SC, picked up suo moto cases that did nothing to help the environment in the country. a petitioner files a case against musharraf, and while hundreds of thousands of cases are filed for suo moto, dear CJ conveniently picks this one to hear. luckily the petitioner has since withdrawn that case, but goes to show his dealings on the court, not to mention the way the arsalan iftikhar case has been handled shows there is more than meets the eye.
@AnisAqeel:
nonsense. complete and utter nonsense.
@Son of Army officer: I think you are out of space concerning the headline. I do not have any grudge or bad taste with military and do have quite a few friends and relatives from military. You can answer yourself if Musharraf lead or was involved in treason and some Generals before him did not commit high treason. Being son of army officer, one can easily think that papa was angel and a saint but for any ordinary person opinion may be different. On the basis of 'danda' (batten) and little sense any mediocre can rule for a few years when a whole lot of greedy politicians are existing especially when some army generals are bribing them to rule their way in small patches of tenures while making them pawns (that also comes under treason constitutionally). If any Pakistani dictator was sincere with correcting political situation, he could have done this at the maximum within a year and could have gone back to barracks. But that was not the case, in fact at a long run they were destroying the institution they belonged to. Democracy takes decades to mature and a good military takes discipline to obey and practice the constitution and in any civilized nation command comes from the head of the state and not head of the army.
@Shakir Lakhani: I agree with you in most of what you said. However I disagree about the sacking of CJ and the NRO. Musharraf did not sack CJ, he simply referred a host of complaints against him to the judicial council. It is the judicial council that has the authority to confirm or deny the complaints. During this time the chief justice is suspended but not removed. The judicial council disagreed with the complainst and the CJ was reinstated during Musharraf's time. But the CJ was on a war path to remove Musharraf and that is the real reason for all that happed later on that is a part of history now.
Let's get one thing clear: the 1999 takeover by Musharraf was widely welcomed by the people, because Nawaz Sharif wanted to become amirul momineen, or absolute dictator. He was regarded as a nincompoop and his attempt to make Musharraf's plane land in India proved it. If he wanted to sack Musharraf, he could have done it in a civilized manner: after all, he had a two-thirds majority. Putting the lives of more than a hundred passengers at risk so that Musharraf would be stranded in India and he could appoint a new COAS is not something a statesman would have done. That said, Parvez Musharraf should not have sacked the Chief Justice, nor should he have promulgated the NRO. These were his greatest blunders.
@AnisAqeel: You are not really interested in calling a spade a spage. You only what to apply your distorted thinking to Musharraf and the military. If you really want to call a spade then admit that Musharraf gov't was much more successful from 1999 to 2007 (before the judicary went on a mission to get him out) in Pakistan's development than any of the so-called democratic gov't combined. Call a spade and admit that Nawaz Sharif and the PPP gov'ts were the most corrupt and and did nothing for the people of Pakistan. Call a spade and admit that Nawaz Sharif attacked the supreme court, amassed wealth illegally, fired scores of generals, presidents, and even chief justice, ammended constitution, all for his personal benefit and not for the country. But I know you won't call all these spades and just focus on Musharraf, who unlike your favorite politicians, actually did a lot for the country without personal gain. May God help Pakistan and give its people the ability to judge right from wrong!
We really have a dysfunctional state and the free media does no favors by taking positions which are nonsensical? The economy is near bankruptcy, the police is dysfunctional, terrorism is at at its peak, innocent people are getting slaughtered day in and day out. We have criminals sitting in the Presidency. Yet, we are worried about treason? Get your priorities straight ET. This is nothing but a tabloid.
Pakistan has been where it is just due to not having courage to call spade a spade. He has destroyed the image of our military more than any other dictator because of lust for power and in the end failed in all his endeavors. All dictators ruined Pakistan from bad to worst in the name of corrupt politicians while corrupting them their-selves to indulge in politics that by itself is a treason. Involving military in politics and dis-reputing the entire institution must not be forgiven , if proven in court of justice. By a clean chit, our military must sacrifice without indulgence in politics and shy away from politics and see how immensely people love them and regain the same respect they had in 1965 or around.
Trial for treason for a patriot soldier and chair of pm for nawaz sharief, the fate has taken its course as chosen by pakistanis
This isn't first... this is one of the many "expected-s" from this government.
Why should the Nawaz gov't be congratulated for this act of vengeance? Doesn't the learned writer know that the constitution requires the treason case to be heard not just for Musharraf but all the aiders and abettors, and the 18th amendment removed the immunity for the 1999 act? If the law is followed then the judiciary, lawyers, politicians will be implicated as well for 1999 and 2007. The constitution calls treason an act of conspiracy, and conspiracy cannot be carried out by a single person. Is this the time to focus on all this or on the troubles of the country? Sadly, Nawaz Sharif has chosen the former and the likes of this writer will only encourage him. Meanwhile the country will fall further into the abyss.
Release Musharraf!