Treason? What will they think of next?

The majority of people reeling under spiraling inflation couldn’t care less what the govt does with the commando.

Governments in Pakistan inevitably employ the oldest trick in the manual after a major administrative cock-up. They draw the public’s attention away from a major blunder by coming up with a bit of sensational news. In the old days when a gaffe had taken place, the public was told that Indian soldiers had committed unspeakable atrocities on Muslim women in Kashmir. People don’t buy that story any more. After the unprovoked attack on the Ashura procession in Rawalpindi, the public was told that former president Pervez Musharraf was going to be tried for Treason. In case you have forgotten what constitutes this offence, here is Article 6 of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan under the heading of High Treason: “1) Any person who abrogates or attempts or conspires to abrogate, subverts or attempts or conspires to subvert the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason. 2) Any person aiding or abetting the acts mentioned in clause (1) shall likewise be guilty of high treason. 3) Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) shall by law provide for the punishment of persons found guilty of high treason.”

The majority of people in Pakistan reeling under spiraling inflation and the rising cost of food couldn’t really care less what the government does with the commando. Whether they lock him up and throw away the key. Let him live in peace in his farmhouse and import Jersey cows. Or send him on a fact-finding mission to Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. In case you belong to that tribe that didn’t have the guts to take him on when he was in power, and now wants to do him in when he has lost his piece of Kryptonite, this column is not for you. It is for those who were taught to fight for the underdog, to stand up for what is right and not to hit a man when he is down. Mind you, when the general was calling the shots, I was one of the very few journalists who regularly attacked him in my columns. Not in the beginning when it looked like he was about to lead a crusade. But much later when he appointed a prime minister whose geeky enthusiasm was engaging without seeming manipulative and whose subsequent actions pulled the carpet from under the general’s feet.

I just couldn’t understand how such a sensible man could have possibly committed those five cardinal blunders that led to his downfall. Not adding a megawatt of electricity to the national grid. Abolishing an administrative service that the British had taken 200 years to build. Taking on the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Joining hands with a totally moribund and retrogressive political party whose speaker sent freeloaders on a regular basis on fully paid holidays to Switzerland. Passing the National Reconciliation Order which was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Initially, when General Musharraf ruled the roost in Pakistan, one didn’t hear even a whimper of protest from the public. He came across as a strict no-nonsense administrator who was hell-bent on putting things right. Military men have this pith-helmeted belief that those who have nothing else should, at least, have the secret of contentment. And so, he tackled the messy and unappetising compendium of leftovers from previous regimes, the only way he knew. The latest news is that the Inquisitors were totally unprepared and needed time to get together a proper case that will hold up in court. Time for another diversionary tactic?

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2013.

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