Well, of course he wont appear in any Benazir murder probe. No one touches anyone from the Old Boys Club, even if they nurse a lit cigar in one hand and a smoking gun in the other. This whole accountability and due process mumbo jumbo is for the great civilian unwashed, where leaders can be dug up from the grave and hung for all to see. We dont treat our gentlemen officers like that.
Double standards become clear yet again. Former dictator Pervez Musharraf, in an interview to a TV channel, said he wont appear before any tribunal investigating the death of Benazir Bhutto. He absolved himself from all responsibility in the Benazir murder probe and said it wasnt, in fact, the responsibility of the President to provide security to anyone. Now though that may be true for a democratic dispensation, we all know who was calling the shots in the said regime. But in another crime, the retired generals companions, civil or otherwise, would have been baying for a politicians blood even if he werent remotely involved.
Consider the incumbent Prime Minister. He might have a lot going on these days, as the rumour mills keep suggesting, but the crime for which he served a prison sentence: handing out jobs out of turn in the National Assembly to his constituents. Ex-officers, on the other hand, can think (realistically, at that) of not cooperating with murder probes, what to speak of mere irregularities in recruitment processes.
The rule of law should apply not just to individuals but also institutions. Whereas civil institutions have to undergo audit scrutiny, the military hasnt yet gone past fixations with systems of internal accountability. The perils of being a security state, like those belonging to what are called ideological states, is that a select coterie is functionally exempt from the law of the land.
Even though he is no longer a military man, the mentality remains the same. While campaigning for his new political party, the erstwhile dictator is heard listing out the flaws of the civilian politicians to anyone who would lend an ear. Perhaps he could put his money where his mouth is, man up and illustrate a difference for all to see. He should appear in front of a tribunal and clear his name.
