For the easily amused: erstwhile dictator Pervez Musharraf is now what he always aspired to be but could never manage. Wanted by the people of Pakistan. Except, not by way of any popularity but only in the strictest legal sense of the term. An Anti Terrorist Court declared the former president a proclaimed offender in its hearing of the Benazir Bhutto murder case. It also ordered for the publication of advertisements against him in British newspapers.
The country has been rather gracious towards its dictators in the past. Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan both died in comfort, having never seen the inside of a jail cell. That horseman of the apocalypse who followed them in this illustrious list would have seen the same comfort had his plane not exploded. And then there was the guard of honour presented to the enlightened moderate.
What is it that stops the politicians from effectively holding these violators of the constitution to task? The immense power that the old boys club wields could be an answer. The prospect of someone messing with Sir Pervez, ten batches senior from Artillery, seems bleak. Even though Musharraf has been sent summons and what have you, no one is holding their breath for something to actually happen. Yes, the military does distance itself from past dictators but that is no reason to believe they don’t watch out for their own.
Though punishing former dictators is in no way untreaded territory. Not only are the Turks punishing generals behind a recent coup attempt, their judiciary has also called for the generals behind the successful coup of 1980 to testify in court. But there is much difference between Turkey and Pakistan. In Turkey, the military has grown weaker and weaker with every successive coup, finally culminating in one that was a botched attempt. While in Pakistan, the military has become more and more powerful with every successive coup, with the reason of the coup scaled down from the supposed prevention of anarchy in the earlier coups to a mere alleged violation of protocol while firing the army chief in the last.
In the murder of Benazir Bhutto, the country lost a fine practitioner of statecraft, a lady with a vision for her country in the international comity of nations. Musharraf, though, has far more sins than any involvement in her demise to atone for. It is about time the Republic takes overturning elected governments a crime more serious than any other.
