It’s the time to disco

The most astonishing statement by Musharraf is that he would like to start his political career with a clean slate.

The most astonishing statement made by Pervez Musharraf at the launch of his political party in London this weekend was that he would like to start his political career with a clean slate. Although he was never known for his intellectual prowess, how naive is that?

Perhaps it is the good fortune of being able to start his politics from the safety and security of a city like London that has made Musharraf feel that he can start with a clean state. Like all megacities around the world, London opens its arms to everyone, be it an asylum seeker, an unskilled worker or a mafia don. And it doesn't ask you the questions that a no-frills place like Pakistan can.

Who is here in London to ask Musharraf what happened in Kargil and who would have been responsible if his dangerous misadventure had brought two nuclear armed nations to war? Here, he can say ‘Pakistan First’, without having to account for the 600 or so poor paramilitary troops that were abandoned on the freezing heights of Kargil, once the world woke up to the sheer insanity of his madcap scheme.

In London, in a society known for its love for rule of law, where the middle class voluntarily pays taxes not because it has to but because it is expected to, it is easy to talk about the need for rule of law. Pakistan is too distant a land for people here to remember, or to care, that the person wishing ‘rule of law’ for Pakistan was guilty of high treason not once but twice.

It makes sense if you talk about political accommodation in London, where a traditionally bipolar polity is experiencing its first extended flirtations with coalition rule. It will probably not even occur to most people here that a ruler can use the country's air force to execute a dissident politician and in the process alienate a province that constitutes over 40 per cent of the country's territory.

It is convenient to talk about battling extremism because very few people here are likely to remember that the person championing moderation admitted dangerous criminals riding a neighbouring country's hijacked aircraft into his country and then let them flourish.

It pays to talk about women emancipation because there are few who remember the callous disdain behind the remark that Pakistani women are not disinclined to the idea of getting raped to get a Canadian visa. The judiciary never gets sacked here simply because it doesn't agree with the head of the state. The media never gets gagged because it is too critical of the man
in charge.

Few here are aware of how sullied Musharraf's slate is, so it is easy to talk about starting with a clean one. But still reeling from the after-effects of nine incredibly long years of misrule, Pakistan is unlikely to let a mere two years of self-imposed
exile wash away the memories of what it endured under one of the most reckless dictators in its troubled history.

Musharraf should consider himself lucky that he cannot go back to Pakistan. London is a great place to party.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2010.