‘Weak Anchor and No Compass'


Written by Javed Ansari • Cover Stories • November 2009

The time is not ripe for Pervez Musharraf to return and play a role in the country's affairs. Former president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, who has taken up residence in London and has changed his calling from that of a retired general to one of roving lecturer, has promised on more occasions than one that he will return to Pakistan and face the courts. He has also said that whenever the need arises, he would be ready to play an active role in the country's affairs.

Therefore, when lawyer and rabble-rouser Aitzaz Ahsan says he is willing to pay for Musharraf's ticket back home to make it possible for the general to fight his court cases, it does not make news. Pervez Musharraf already seems to be toying with the idea of returning home. When he does, he will not need to borrow money from Mr. Ahsan to buy a ticket because he is probably one of the best paid people doing the world's lecture circuit these days.

However, the bigger question is that is the time right for Pervez Musharraf to return home, now that the two year restriction preventing him from taking part in national politics is about to be over? What will he be returning to anyway? To a Pakistan where the National Reconciliation Ordinance that he had cobbled together to give himself another 5-year extension as president, is ready to turn into a dangerous bombshell? Or, to a Pakistan that is in a state of war against militancy and terrorism - and all because he is said to have not played his cards right when he was in power? He will be coming back to a Pakistan where the level of governance is at its lowest ebb and the common man finds himself crushed under a mountain of unbridled corruption.

Does Pervez Musharraf still have friends left in Pakistan? He will be shocked to know that even the most die-hard of his friends, after having satiated themselves to the full at his fountain of favours and generosity, have abandoned him. His former political ally Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has advised him quite categorically to be content with making money through lectures and to forget about politics. Similarly, another of his erstwhile supporters, Mushahid Hussain Syed, has also advised him to play golf and forget about a future career in politics. Other leading lights of the Musharraf era - the likes of Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Ijazul Haq, Lt. Gen. Moinuddin Haider, Kashmala Tariq, etc. - speak derisively of Musharraf's policies now but did not have the guts to resign their cushy positions over decisions made by the general they did not agree with - Lal Masjid, removal of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, etc.

Musharraf may have described the army uniform as his second skin but his supporters at the GHQ too appear to be keeping a safe distance from him. The handful of faithfuls he has left - at least the vocal ones - are people like Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Maj. Gen. (Retd) Rashid Qureshi, Sen. Azeem Tariq and Dr. Naseem Ashraf - but those are quite few in numbers to make any impact.

Does Musharraf have a public following? In the halcyon days of his rule, his public acceptance graph may have been quite high but it is down in the pits now. The media monster that he created has worked overtime to discredit and belittle him in the public eye for acts committed or otherwise. Therefore, the club of Musharraf-lovers, especially among the urban classes, is left with very few members now.

General Pervez Musharraf happened to find himself holding the reins of power one evening in October 1999. This was a time when the nation had become quite disgusted with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his style of governance. The general's professed a liberal and enlightened vision for Pakistan. He brought to the fore a new charisma and promise for change. He infused optimism in the people who believed they had been again saved by the army uniform - just the way they did when General Ayub Khan took over. Even Benazir's PPP rejoiced!

Of course, unlike the preceding military rulers, this army man came with an altogether different mindset. He set about liberalizing the press in a big way and saw to it that it was allowed to function without any restraints. He set in motion measures that gave new direction to the country's wobbling economy. He spelt out the concept of ‘enlightened moderation' and presented a vision that placed ‘Pakistan first'. In fact, he inspired such a degree of confidence that many capable men and women - people of integrity - rallied around his liberal agenda.

Things seemed to be going in the right direction for the first three years, up until 2002. This was past 9/11 and Musharraf had taken a difficult decision by agreeing to side with the US in its so-called ‘war on terror' but the country was on an even keel. What happened then? Instead of building on his reputation and citing the prevailing situation in the world to seek more time to implement fully his secular vision, Musharraf decided to hold general elections. It would have been all right for the general to have presided over the elections as a neutral force and to have seen to it that polls were held in a free manner. However, he chose to become a party himself when he put together the PML-Q and made sure that this faction was returned to the assemblies in overwhelming numbers.

Subsequently, he began depending a little too much on the Gujarat politicians and everything he did thereafter was a wrong turn. Every action that he took was subsequently retracted. For example, it was decided that the passport would have no column for religion - thus going back to the pre-Zia days when the Pakistani passport was a secular travel document. He backed out under pressure from Shujaat, who is said to have interfered with everything from madrassah reform to women's empowerment bill.

It is also not quite understandable how the very man who professed ‘Pakistan first' could have been talked into the notorious NRO game plan. Which law of the land empowered him to give concessions that would ensure the return to power of people facing court trials for a whole host of alleged offences? Among the last few nails in the coffin leading to Musharraf's downfall were the decision to fire the country's chief justice and to impose Emergency. Both these ill-timed actions backfired resulting in a massive public reaction that snowballed into a countrywide movement led by lawyers and politicians.

The quandary Pervez Musharraf placed Pakistan in was expressed quite appropriately by former civil servant Roedad Khan in one of his columns, written while the general was is still in power:

‘General Musharraf is so swathed in his inner circle that he has completely lost touch with the people and wanders around among small knots of persons who agree with him. His blunders are too obvious, his behaviour is too erratic, his vision too blurred. He has painted himself into a corner. The longer he delays return to full democracy, and the longer he allows the water to rise, the greater the catastrophe that will follow the bursting of the dam...

‘...The sea is turbulent. The captain has a weak anchor and no compass. The crew is inexperienced. If the nation doesn't wake up, we will all go down like the Titanic. History will remember both that General Musharraf failed to hear the warning bells and that politicians failed to ring them loudly enough.'

Pervez Musharraf has a keen eye on international affairs and even while he globe-trots, he keeps in touch with minute-to-minute developments at home. The way things are in Pakistan today should hardly encourage him to believe that he still has a role to play in the country's affairs. The better option for him would be to continue to serve the interests of the country in the manner he is doing at present - by presenting Pakistan to the world for all the right and moderate values it stands for.