Musharraf would have us believe that the people literally wept when he resigned from the presidency in 2008. The people of which part of the world is he referring to? They can’t be the generalissimo’s fellow countrymen for he was and will continue to be a symbol of hatred for them.
In an interview on BBC HardTalk early this week, he was subjected to tough questioning by presenter Stephen Sackur who asked him about the existence of Quetta Shura, Osama bin Laden’s discovery from Abbottabad despite his constant denial of Al-Qaeda Chief’s presence in the country, his double-crossing the Bush Administration and his plan to launch a political comeback when his popularity remains at the lowest ebb. But what was neither asked nor answered was the source from which he was getting enough funds to pay a staggering 25000 dollars a month to an American lobbying firm.
The interview was aired at a time when his arrest warrants along with those of Shaukat Aziz and Jam Yousaf have already been issued on the orders of the Balochistan High Court in connection with Nawab Akbar Bugti’s murder. There are cynics who are trying to tarnish the late Nawab’s reputation and believe that the vacuum created by his death will not be hard to fill. This is tantamount to discredit not only the departed soul but also the entire Baloch nation which hasn’t recovered from the shock of the gruesome murder.
Former Governor Balochistan Owais Ahmad Ghani must have realised with hindsight that he was wrong to claim that the Baloch youth was fed up with the sardars and wanted to liberate themselves from their tyranny. Bugti was a father figure who inspired a great deal of admiration among the younger generation. It would always remember him for his endeavour to strengthen the federation and, while he was alive, Talal Bugti would not have even thought of talking about his province being on the verge of break-up.
By ordering the Nawab’s assassination, Musharraf had actually lent strength to the elements nursing separatist tendencies. During his nine years of military rule he had committed countless crimes but the one for which he deserves the harshest punishment was his having subjected the people of Balochistan to the worst kind of repression. Military’s intelligence agencies had been given a free rein to kill and kidnap innocent citizens on the mere suspicion of their links with the terrorist networks. Many of them were handed over to the Americans for questioning at Guantanamo Bay. The whereabouts of those who disappeared under mysterious circumstances remain unknown despite repeated court orders for their recovery.
Deceit being the inherent characteristic of his personality, Musharraf had constituted a two-member troubleshooting committee with master mumbler Ch Shujaat Hussain as its chairman. But while the committee kept shuttling between the federal capital and Balochistan trying to engage the “rebellious” sardars he gave a go ahead to the spy agencies to eliminate Bugti then hiding far away from his ancestral home in Dera Bugti. The civilian leadership had been kept out of the loop of the secret mission. It was in no way a partner in crime. So there’s no point in Shaukat Aziz writing a letter to IG Balochistan and passing the buck on to the provincial government. He simply panicked; he could have simply taken a cue from Ch Shujaat who is on record having told the National Assembly that “certain hands” were trying to create roadblocks in the away of restoring peace to the restive province.
Musharraf has been consigned to the pages of history but it is unfortunate that the current democratic dispensation has not so far been able to do anything to mitigate the accentuated sense of deprivation among the Baloch. That Interior Minister Rehman Malik and PPP’s enfant terrible Babar Awan were tasked to engage the enraged Baloch youth and the insurgents fighting against the government forces was a clear manifestation of the lack of seriousness on the part of the federal government to give a boost to the peace initiative of Senator Lashkari Raisani who managed to bring some insurgent groups to the negotiation table after hectic efforts.
Those who keep basking in the glow of the so-called Aghaz-i-Huqooq-i-Balochistan can ignore criticism from them for not taking any interest in resolving the crisis prevalent in their province. But they have to be receptive to the calls from their diehard supporters voicing serious concerns about the victimisation of their fellow citizens. Senator Raisani is perturbed he sees no let up in the incidents of forced disappearance; those involved in kidnapping and killing the people continue committing the crime with impunity.
The writer is Executive Editor, Pakistan Today.