Of a retired general’s unremitting political ambitions

Despite the passage of more than three years since his ouster from power and numerous subsequent political betrayals from his fair-weather friends in this time span, former President General (r) Pervez Musharraf is still not ready to accept defeat in the political arena and is now mulling over ways to make his return to the country next year a success.
Musharraf’s political journey cum adventure, which started immediately after the 2008 general elections – when his plan to strike a political deal with Benazir Bhutto was first thwarted by the latter’s assassination, but later materialised through PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP’s preference for forging an alliance with Nawaz instead of the Chaudhrys’ PML-Q – has witnessed no successes in the following three and a half years rather a number of the retired general’s supporters have ditched him for their vested political interests time and again.
Apparently annoyed by taunts directed towards him for his self-imposed exile by opponents primarily from the PML-N, Musharraf recently announced that he would return to Pakistan on March 23, 2012 at every cost. He also chaired the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) central executive committee (CEC, composition unknown) meeting on September 18 in Dubai to give the final touches to his plan of returning to Pakistan. Sources in the APML told Pakistan Today that the party’s CEC meeting was a ‘flop show’ attended by a few sycophants who still wanted to mislead an ambitious ‘commando’.
“These so-called members of Musharraf’s kitchen cabinet are just wasting the contents of the APML Chief’s bank accounts … Barrister Saif recently visited Europe to establish APML wings there, but he has not yet established any sound party office in any Pakistani district,” said a source in the APML adding that Musharraf’s aides were making a fool out of the former president. He said Saif and the others’ past performance was enough to open Musharraf’s eyes. Political analysts claim Musharraf would never return to Pakistan on an announced schedule due to the adverse political situation.
Encouraged by the bickering between the PPP and the PML-N – coalition partners in 2008 – over the judges’ reinstatement issue and disappointed with the Chaudhrys who had flatly refused to leave the PML-Q’s steering seat for the retired general’s confidants, Musharraf first decided to take the advice of a select few PML-Q leaders when he was still President of Pakistan in May to June 2008 to launch his own political party named Pasdaran-e-Pakistan which crashed before ever taking off due to Musharraf’s resignation from the office on August 18, 2008.
Politics, no doubt, is a tedious and complicated affair. Some friends had told Musharraf in 2008 that without the elaborate network of sticks and carrots that the state agencies had used to line up the PML-Q before the 2002 elections, it would be extremely difficult to set up a new political party that would be taken seriously but the one-time commando paid no heed to such sane voices and launched APML in October 2010 after the expiry of the two year legal bar on his entering into politics.
At the launch of the APML in London, no PML-Q leader from the Chaudhrys or any likeminded camp, who had previously assured him of their loyalty, attended the inauguration ceremony and even Hamid Nasir Chattha, Humayon Akhtar Khan, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Ameer Muqam, Khurshid Qasuri, Nisar Memon, Raza Hayat Hirraj etc chose to keep their distance. Only Chaudhry Shahbaz from Sargodha and Sher Afgan Khan Niazi from Mianwali dared to disassociate themselves from the PML-Q to advance Musharraf’s political ambitions. The others who joined the former military dictator like Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Chaudhry Fawad, Dr Amjad, Lala Nisar etc were the ones who had never won union council elections in their political career.
The association of Sher Afgan Khan Niazi with the APML could not last long and he resigned from the basic membership of the party before the first birthday of the APML. Talking to Pakistan Today, Niazi said he had resigned from the party due to his differences with Dr Amjad, Barrister Saif and Chaudhry Fawad whom he termed as ‘artificial politicians’. “Being a political worker, I cannot work with such people who have no political acumen and completely lack any public support … They cannot even gather a dozen people for Musharraf’s public gathering,” Niazi said. When asked about his assessment regarding Musharraf’s possible return to the country next year, he said, “I will not comment on the politics of Pervez Musharraf as I have quit the party. I have no differences with Musharraf therefore I would prefer not to comment on him,” he added.
Hassan Askari Rizvi, a prominent political analyst, said that Musharraf appeared to be overconfident and ‘his chances in Pakistani politics were minimal if any.’ Rizvi said Musharraf did not have an operational party. “He does not have secured constituencies or candidates who can win elections. Musharraf is fit for TV talk shows and interviews rather than practical politics,” said Rizvi. He said the date announced by Musharraf for his return to Pakistan was too far away. “No one knows what the situation will be in March 2012. Musharraf has deliberately given a distant date to keep the media speculating as he knows the art of staying in the news,” he added.