Here is the man and here also is the moment. To the dislike of many, I wouldn’t call him a traitor or a coward. Not so because in the ruffled and uneven playing field of civil-military relations in this country, a time comes when individual preference (boldness and courage) is substituted by institutional dictate (compromise not meaning surrender). Such a time came on the fateful and critical morning when the general left his farmhouse to appear in the special court. Earlier, those planting bombs (and those discovering them in time) on the route to the court were doing their best to give the much-needed time to the ‘solution seekers’ to find a way out of this predicament. The military has all along been the most concerned institution on the detention and trial of the general. A definite behind-the-scene ‘solution seeker’.
Displaying classic military unity, cohesion and discipline, the army, despite the obstacles in October 1999, rescued its leader mid-air. All the corps commanders and principal staff officers unanimously agreed to put the entire weight of the army’s power and support in rescuing its leader and ‘reinstating’ and elevating their ‘sipah salaar’ to the position of chief executive of the country. Back in 1999, the entire nation saw how the ‘COAS’s constituency’— the army — rose to defend both, its leader and its corporate interests. The truth is that the 1999 coup was neither ‘individual-led’ nor ‘individual-guided’. It was an institutional response to a crisis situation, the designers and architects of which belonged to the same ruling party that rules us today.
The party is characterised for practicing and employing some of the harsher methods of exercising civilian control over the military. From a failed ‘mid-air hijacking’ in the past to the present attempts of dragging the ex-sipah saalar of the army to face a trial under the charges of treason in court, the party refuses to step back and allow the military to function from within its ‘comfort zone’.
We know that many civilian eyebrows have been raised on the timing of the general’s heart and other multiple ailments. What we don’t know is that many ‘military eyebrows’ were also being raised on the detention and trial of its sipah salaar, who had commanded and led the military for eight long years. These raised military eyebrows have been asking some pertinent questions. Why should political questions be resolved through the judiciary? Didn’t Pakistanis and the politicians they elected collectively through the legislative assemblies, consented to President Musharraf’s authority and responsibility to protect the state of Pakistan? Didn’t he become democratically accountable to the voters when he held elections in 2002 and put in place a civilian government? The general has been in Pakistan for the last seven months. If high treason was the ultimate charge for which he was to be tried, then why this delay? Were the other cases more important than the fundamental case of usurpation of power and authority in violation of Article 6 of the Constitution? Who masterminded the timings of the initiation of this case to proceed after the retirement of General Kayani and the chief justice of the Supreme Court? These are some important questions and depending on how they are answered, we will know the direction the general’s flight will take in future.
You can’t berate the army and still expect General Raheel Sharif not to come under pressure for doing little or nothing at all. General Kayani’s mute response, while in service, may have drawn him appreciation and praise from politicians, but within his own constituency, ‘the army’, he was seen as a commander who avoided and sidestepped his responsibility. He owed it to his Boss.
The assumption that the army is not as powerful as before and its power is declining is a political assumption. In reality, the military is deducing from the political responses that ‘it’s the others who are trying to catch up’. It does not mean that the military’s power is declining. If catching up means attacking the corporate interests of the military, then I am afraid the stars will have to protect and safeguard the interests of ‘stripes and uniform’. Because if they fail to do that — and let me say that General Kayani failed — the ‘stripes and uniform’ will demand an honest answer to one simple question: how come we fought the war on terror for eight long years under a sipah salaar, who we are now being told by the politicians is a traitor and the enemy of the state?
Guilt and treason are the two significant words in Article 6. However, one word that comes to mind when you think of all the legislators and political parties, which voted and kept General Musharraf in power and which are now asking for his trial: ‘shameful’.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2014.
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No one ever wishes to see our Pak Army decline or become less powerful in any way but we all want a prosperous, developed, and democratic Pakistan, where our institution becomes more stronger, while not overstepping from their boundary. However, power greedy Generals bring bad name to Army and country. In the lust of power and authority, they become dictator, they may get richer but country becomes poorer and weak. Lets make new Pakistan, where Judiciary and Military institutions will never overstep and will let democracy flourish.
Sir most of articles are somewhat balanced. But I could not disagree with you more over here. There should be Civilian Supremacy over the entire Armed forces period. General Musharraf subverted the constitution and he should be tried for it,
Colonel what you are suggesting here tantamount to incitement.
In my opinion Musharaf should plead guilty to lesser charges and leave. Perhaps it would give some face saving to both parties.
The author wants to convince us with the argument-Army did nothing wrong but saved its sipah salar but he doesn’t accept the same logic when civilians want to save their leader from the jaws of power hungry greedy generals who think law of land as mere piece of paper under their feet.
We believe that soldiers are patriot and are ever willing to sacrifice their lives for the safety of their motherland but we wouldn’t let poor soldiers to be butchered serving the interests of greedy generals in the name of institutional discipline.The generals must be court marshalled for losing six thousand precious soldiers at the hands of terrorists emerging more stronger than before.
There should be Islamic equality and justice for all. The biggest crime/blunder ZAB committed was not to let Mujeeb try the war criminals in BD. ZAB brought them back without a single being punished with all their perks. After a few years these same officers cleansed themselves from the surrender shame and hanged him. We should not continue to practice the hegemony of one group of armed govt servants over the entire population and constitution. Mush’s arguments in court clearly state that he does not believe we even have a constitution and without a constitution for more than 40 years everything is illegal and there are no federating units because there is no binding constitution! We are not interested in punishing Mush but we believe in his day in court.
Well said sir and to the point!! The opportunism of the ruling party and its mishandling of this issue is for all to see. All the hypocritical supporters of this sham democracy don’t have the decency to call out the fact that this case is selective and retributive towards Pervez Musharraf only when the former chief justice and many others are equally guilty. If tauheen-e-aiyeen is the issue then why not try Musharraf and the former CJP for the 1999 takeover? On this these uber-democratic hypocrites have no answer.
Lets make it very clear, Musharraf is not army and Army is not Musharraf. If someone give the logic of demoralization of Army by Musharraf’s trail then they must think again, Musharraf’s ‘mysterious ailment’ is more shameful than the treason trail.
If someone thinks that the trail is malfide and 12th October should be the day then I think the date should be from ‘feb to may 1999’. When fallen General was fighting the Kargil war. Now some might say that Nawaz sharif was fully aware. Alright, let set a commision and see who the culprit is. This sham logic, ‘why only Musharraf’ is disgusting.
The case is not political, the case is admitted in court on merit and if someone has a wee bit doubt about the veracity of case then Musharraf is fully empowered to contest it by the ‘equal citizen rights and fair trial rights’ given by the same constitution which he courageously abrogated.
@Syme:
“If someone thinks that the trail is malfide and 12th October should be the day then I think the date should be from ‘feb to may 1999′.”
Kargil probe is in the pipe line.General has to surrender unconditionally.
it has to decide by the courts that Musharaf has did a sin or not. Gen Musharaf has to appear to court and face the court and let them decided ….
The author of this article crying in each word that army is utterly unsuitable for even developing any reasonable argument. And this gentleman will even be a PhD in a while. 🙂
Threatening for future and accepting past guilt. Only feeling of shame found missing.
Keyboard bangers shame on you for calling this kleptocracy a democracy. This only proves your arguments are based on falsehood. Ask most people who have no food (10 crores) about this system and they will answer you properly
From your argument it seems the rule of Law is not applicable to Army Officers therefore when any of them are prosecuted for violating their oath of office and Constitution, they should be rescued by their Institution, the Army. Musharraf should have been prosecuted for overthrowing an elected Government in 1999 along with all those who aided and abetted him which includes elements from the Judiciary as well as the Political class. It was a golden opportunity for the country to rid itself of the freeloaders setting the wrong example to the people. Dictatorships have inserted so many unwanted clauses into the Constitution which the Political class has been too weak to rescind, the mutilation having buried all hopes for the country to rescue itself.
Pakistan needs to free itself from the Oligarchs strangling it as well as motivated individuals impregnated into the system who are passing off as objective journalists, all with loyalties and an agenda of their own. An opportunity like this one does not come every day. Lack of conviction and will has been the bane of Pakistan.
We are a nation of hypocrites. When Musharraf took power, nearly the whole nation was behind him, including judges, lawyers,etc. Now when out of power, those in power are trying to have their revenge. We as a nation, do not have principle’s, moral’s, scrupulous, as and when, what is convenient, is how we plan our lives and lives of others. With this attitude, it is not surprising that Pakistani’s are detested even in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Iran, our three closest Islamic nations. We can try Musharraf when we can attempt to try our nation, for hypocrisy, dogmatism, double standards, sifting loyalties as and when convenient, the list is endless. We as a nation are nowhere near perfection, morally, ethically, legally, socially, so why do we go into legal debates, which has cost the nation in billions, time, and effort, what has happened to all the previous cases, memo-gate, Zardari’s case, Arsalan’s case, nothing, and nothing is going to come out of this case either.
In your artical bias is reflected . You do not think with reference to state but your thinking with reference to army. Army is the institution of state , we all must think about the state. If we have a country than we have army and all other institutions. No doubt politician are corrupt but there must be process of refinement which is only possible in free and fair election.
The people of Pakistan rejected the PPP due to bad governance. If PML produce the bade governance to people of Pakistan, Next general election, their politics will finish and new leadership will come .
The main point i want to give here is that if army intervene in the politics , people become confuse and help the corrupt leader again. So give them a chance as all over the world and see what will be the result.
We have powerful media, Judiciary, Civil society , lawyers. So hope that if army gives a chance to civil leader to delver than i than I hope otherwise new leadership will come .
SO, we do not need to be bias , we should for Pakistan.
Now ! I am dead sure that we all are heading towards disaster, which at the end of day will indeed succumbed us all. As a national character of us we always use to follow the man made principles leaving aside the established and consolidated principles of Islam. Our emphasis would be not to subvert the man made constitution but, 999 out of 1000 willingly subverts, degrades and intentional close their eyes from the 100% established facts and truth of Islam, but no one is ashamed of him or never been convicted for the same. If the Creator has taught us the principles of dwelling in flawless way then, why we are after democracy, parliamentary or presidential or monarchy or dictatorship form of government? All ante forms are meant for those who does not have firm faith and believe on ALLAH, and want to indulge their energies only to have luxuries of this world.But, the sensible sense the sense.
We all knows that who all in majority inflicted heavy loses and doses to Pakistan but, even then we do not have the moral courage to justly name them as, our integral interests are with them.This will not go long, one day people of Pakistan will realize.
@sabi:
When you comment, it should be using logic and facts. The Generals did not create this war. It is as a result of the war in Afghanistan. People fighting in Afghanistan have taken refuge in Pakistan and are destabilizing the country. The Army and the security apparatus have no option but to these on these elements. It has nothing to do with Generals. If this is such a big issue then why did two democratically elected governments (PPP and now PML) put a complete stop on all operations and withdraw troops from FATA? Its because there are terrorist elements sitting there and challenging the writ of the GoP.
@sabi:
What about Kargil? How about probing every single war fought by us? Just like Bhutto was a party to both the 65 and 71 war, Mian sahib was neck deep in the Kargil planning. Don’t fool us with your silly comments!
Kargil was fought on a yet to be decided Line of Control. As Pakistanis we should be absolutely clear that Indians make adjustment to this very same LoC all the time. Siachen is an extension of this LoC conflict because Indians thought they could interpret it the way they wanted to. Pakistan and Pakistanis have nothing to apologize for when it comes to Kargil.
If you want us to feel guilty for fighting in Kargil, then good luck as its not happening.
Good luck to Musharraf! He will need it given the characters lined up against him.
Very well stated article. The Army is the only honest institution that has protected Pakistan. Unfortunately the political parties have only looted Pakistan. Its only when the political government has brought Pakistan to a failed state that the military has had to take over. If the political government had protected Pakistan and delivered on its promises to the people then there would be no need for the Army to take over. Its as simple as that. I refuse to believe the argument that the political parties have not been given enough chances – they have and failed every time. Musharraf’s government delivered for the people and that’s why the political parties are so afraid of him and the Army. This personal vendetta must end.
@SaneVoice:
What he is saying is patently the truth. Musharraf is being selectively targeted. This is not about justice or the law, its about Mian Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhry Iftikhar getting back at Musharraf.
Don’t expect Pakistan to be fixed by vindictive, half-measures as they are bound to cause bigger problems in the future. If this is to be done right then we have one of two options available to us. Either we follow South Africa’s reconciliation approach and agree wrongs were done and move on, or we go full bore like Turkey and punish the culprits, aiders and abettors of the 1999 take over en masse. Anything other than that is opportunistic politics and will undermine Pakistan’s future even more.
Musharraf was much more democratic than the so-called democratic political parties of Nawaz Sharif and Zardari. His government delivered superior governance, freed and opened up the media, economic growth was one of the highest in the world, most government run institutions like PIA, railways, steel mills etc were running smoothly, IMF loans were paid off, foreign reserves were at record high, Rupee was stable for 8 years, and most all people had local representation in freely elected local bodies. 2002 and 2008 elections were held freely. This is why the political parties are afraid of Musharraf and want to convict him, because they know he can deliver good governance and they cannot.
“compromise not meaning surrender”
I guess 1971 was a compromise…
and the word shame not in the dictionary…
Good1
It is high time that people at helm of affairs should wake up. Specially the pumpkin heads
@Assad:
There are several alternatives;
. Let the law of the country deal with the charges against Mr Parvez Musharaf. He is carrying a bag of worms which he can no longer unload easily. This former military man was seen by the people of the world swearing allegance to a foreign power in their house of congress. Normaly he should have been court marshalled and discharged from Pakistan army.
. Let the current colonial structured army be nationalised into a military force for the country’s defences. Its size be reduced; all those involved in policing functions and maintaining public order must be sent on early retirement.
.
If you have not the confidence in the current political leadersship, you are free to form a new political party but remember, a democracy works on a concensus and gives the people a Government which they deserve.
Rex Minor
@Assad: You are wrong. Unlike Siachen where there is a discussion about where the LoC is – there was no confusion about KArgill. IT was on Indian side of LoC as per Simla agreement.
Also if you think it was okay to attack Kargill, can you please explain why the soldiers were dressed up as mujahidins and Musharraf even refused to take back the dead body of soldiers for burying them with national honor? No my friend. It was a lack of integrity to invade KArgill when Indian soldiers had been withdrawn for the winter adn while India and Pakistan were signing a peace treaty. That is why Pakistan was pretending that its soldiers were not involved.
@Pakistani Patriot:
You remind me of the Kakul under-training officer who told me without blinking an eye that we won the wars of 1965 and 1971. You remind me how easy it is to brainwash citizens and make them believe that the Army has only ‘served’ the country, and it is an uncorrupt entity – when exactly the opposite is true. Pakistan’s physical borders, its state institutions, and its people have all suffered much, much more when the Army ‘served’ the nation, as compared to periods of civilian rule. (hints: Bangladesh, demolition derby of courts and legislature, siachen, kargil, not a single megawatt added to the grid, jihad project comprising lashkars, taliban, and isolation in the world, 50,000 dead citizens due to army-midwifed terrorism, birth of MQM, sectarianism, mutilation of the 1973 Constitution, plus several more ‘gifts’ )
“Back in 1999, the entire nation saw how the ‘COAS’s constituency’— the army — rose to defend both, its leader and its corporate interests.”
That pretty much sums it up. Army is a corporation.
This did not read well. Being written by an ex-army man it came across as a little pompus and quite one sided……….something that should have been avoided. There is a diplomatic ways to saying something difficult and this was not it.
I wonder what KU is teaching him in Civil-Military relations.. or perhaps you can take a person out of the army but not the Army out of a person..
Every time Musharraf and his apologists open their mouth they commit sedition. They are digging a deeper hole. They are pushing the case into the political arena. They should remember the treatment of Pinochet, Saddam and Qaddafi as indications.
Their big ego won’t let them off the hook!
@nadeem:
So which ones of the facts that I listed are you claiming to not be true? Was the Rupee not stable for 8 years, was the economy not growing at 5-7%, did Pakistan not improve from 2nd most corrupt in 1999 to 46th by 2007, were the IMF loans not fully paid off, were the local bodies not functioning? Terrorism was much lower, so was sectarianism, and security much better. Only these things pertain to the general public, not politics and kargil/siachen. I am not for the Army to run the country, and I never claim it to be perfect, but when enough is enough there is no choice left. You should be telling your political friends to clean up their shop and rule the country with honesty, competency and hard work as the surest way to keep the army from having to intervene. Otherwise people, just as before, will be pleading for the Army to take over again when they have had enough of PMLN and PPP.
Can article be any more biased?
Wonder what KU is teaching in its civil – military syllabus
Let him go back to London or Dubai where his fellow criminals live. Just forgive him.
@nadeem:
Take it easy! yours is the realistic assessment: I have posted several comments but probably got lost in transit. It is not the fault of the Army, but the fault of the Defense Ministers who are usualy civilians and made no attempt to reform this institution, thereby retaining it as a colonial structured set up. The army brass over time given the opportunity, took over the administering functions of the civilian Governments, Parvez Musharaf becoming the first to ride roughshod on the judiciary and finaly placing himself at the service of George W and the American congress. As much as it seems to be macabre, it was George W who ordered him to step down from the military post if he wants to retain his post as the President.
The present Prime Minister is fully aware of the situation, but is he willed enough to pursuade the newly appointed military boss to carry out the necessary reforms?l
Rex Minor
@Pakistani Patriot:
You are following the line of the new military man in Egypt; he reckons that the army man should be the head of the civilian administration for the next 8 years, because the army man knows how to get the best from the civilian administration. The problem is that you have not provided any justification of Mr Parvez Musharaf being responsible for the any p erformance.
If you were to study the basics of natural science, you would know that the world throughout is moving from the order to disorder. The turmoils in the economy and the unrest among the people, extremism as well as terrorism, regional wars and whatever have all been attributed to the domestic and foreign policies of the USA administrations under George W and Barack Obama!
Pakistan is not unique, others have suffered worst and are still struggling. It is not the Government but the people who are responsible in a democracy to work hard and workr work honestly, undertake educational reforms and industrialisation which create. A military head of a modern country is a mockery. Pakistan can do well without a clown as its head. Mr Sharif is an industrialist business man, the best Pakistan has but is facing the destabilised entire country due solely to the military rule of Mr Parvez Musharaf.
Rex Minor
**The party is characterised for practicing and employing some of the harsher methods of exercising civilian control over the military.**
So true.
For instance,
A. Overthrowing and putting an elected PM in solitary.
OR,
B. Hanging the deposed PM.
Harsh indeed.
OOPS, did you say the ‘Civilians’? I heard the Khakis.
@Masood Mirza Bar-at-Law:
How about Honorable ex CJ. He gave Musharraf unlimited powers to amend the constitution. Do comment on that.
Pakistanis have selective memories or intentional amnesia.
The constitution was imposed in 1973. Zia ousted ZAB in 1977. Nobody can try him. Fine. But what about those who served with him as ministers (A certain Mr Mohammed Nawas Sharif is an example) under the same sections of same constitution. Is that the reason for trying Musharraf for 2007 emergency rather than October 1999?
As for Kargil, you can bet your bottom dollar that NS was in the loop. He made some veiled comments (like: India cannot keep Kashmir for more than six months now) regarding that in Pakistan’s parliament at the beginning of that year and was reported in Indian newspapers(The Asian Age).
What a shameful expression of thoughts by the writer. I wonder what the Karachi univ is imparting to their students if this is a standard of a Phd Student. Or may be even after retirement, the writer is still on the pay rolls of agencies. Pakistan will only progress when rule of law will prevail and there will be no holy cows who are over and above law. To achieve this goal, it is mandatory that these sort of sipah salaars should be tried and hanged till death for what they have done to this country and this nation.
I beg army to bring another martial law and get rid of the corrupt politicians and don’t think of democracy”code word for corruption ” for atleast 25 years.
@SindhiPakistani:
Shame on you for calling SindhiPakistani. A Pakistani is a Pakistani. He/she is not a Sindhi or Punjabi or any other hyphenated Pakistani.
You blame army and judiciary but did not blame the corrupt political dictators. If the people chose their politicians on the basis of article 62 and 63 then we would get somewhat non-corrupt politicians or at least they will fear if they do anything wrong otherwise they would be eliminated under the article 62 & 63 scrutiny. These politicians who were elected then will do a job for the betterment of the general public which they are voted for.
If the politicians do their job and the country progress then no army will come to save the people. Army only come when the politicians does not perform. The people will look for army to come and clean the mess. Why people still remember gen. Musharraf? coz he did some good job for the betterment of the people.
Zardari and Nawaz get more money in foreign aid then Gen. Musharraf’s time. These politicians have taken IMF loan more than we borrowed in the last 60 years, whereas in Musharraf’s era they said bye bye to IMF ie stop borrowing from IMF.
@Rex Minor:
Sharif is the best industrialist Pakistan has? How laughable and what an ignorant comment. Sharif brothers have ill acquired and stolen wealth. They accumulated sugar mills and land by manipulating political influence during their government, not by being good business managers and organic growth. They have also alotted government owned corporations to their cronies for next to nothing to get favors and I am sure to get a split of the loot. What world do you live in?
@SaneVoice:
Until we achieve a litterate rate over 90%. We could not select good politicians. Until we changed the politicial system to elect our political candidates non-corrupt and on merit we cannot afford the supermacy of civilian govt over military.
“All the corps commanders and principal staff officers unanimously agreed to put the entire weight of the army’s power and support in rescuing its leader and ‘reinstating’ and elevating their ‘sipah salaar’ to the position of chief executive of the country.”
I say bring them all to trial for treason – no less
General Musharraf, we are with you.
@Iron:
“General Musharraf, we are with you.”
Where were you when he was waiting for you at Karachi airport!