General (retd) Musharraf becomes the first former army chief to be formally charged with murder. PHOTO: AFP
General (retd) Musharraf becomes the first former army chief to be formally charged with murder. This can be taken as a good sign; our country certainly needs to move towards across the board justice for all. The developments we have seen over the past few weeks take us closer to this. But at the same time, key questions arise. We may differ with the former president’s policies and many of his doings but if ordering action against militants leads to murder charges, it may result in a still greater reluctance on the part of leaders to take action in this regard and that would be extremely unfortunate. Let us not forget that the Lal Masjid students were far from benign; raiding shops selling DVDs, kidnapping and trying alleged prostitutes, and setting fire to the Ministry of Environment building among other things. The occupants of Lal Masjid also eventually killed more than 10 SSG commandos in the actual operation.
The wider impact of the court’s actions then need to be considered, even as we watch what happens to General (retd) Musharraf over the months ahead. The possibility of treason charges being brought against him, based around his 1999 takeover and 2007 declaration of emergency, seems to loom closer as a result of the cases already filed against him. He may face a harder time in proving he is innocent of these than he will in the various murder accusations he confronts, given that the evidence in these, at least based on what we know for now, lacks substance which could directly be used against him.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 4th, 2013.
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If Head of the State is held responsible for whatever its functionaries consider necessary then we have some problems here on hand, some real problems.
@M. Emad: However JOB was not done COMPLETELY,. He should have had eliminated Criminals IN BURKA, that is where he DID NOT FINISH the job.
@Naseer: Agreed more than 100%. If only our Judiciary is checked and reformed, our country could be on a right path.
Agreed. The Lal Masjid and Bugti murder cases are unwise. Musharraf should have handled these differently, but trying him for murder will create a dangerous precedent where every govt will feel reluctant to take action against armed groups.
Supreme Court should court martial all the armed forces personals who participated in the Lal Masjid operation. Next step should be to file murder charges against General Keyani for Swat and Waziristan operation!
Pakistan has become a joke and our judiciary should be checked before they totally destroy the country.
I think in his entire career, Musharraf had done this only right work.