Former general’s gauntlet has been picked up
It took Musharraf, a man with a bloated ego, just 24 hours to reconcile with the present day ground realities in Pakistan. Defying the arrest orders issued by the Islamabad High Court, he had fled from the court premises and entrenched himself in his farm house from where he issued a veiled threat of clash between the pillars of state if anybody dared to take action against him. Within hours the gauntlet was picked up by the Senate where speaker after speaker compared the treatment meted out to popular politicians by the courts and the administration to the way Musharraf was being handled. The IHC had already summoned IG Police to explain why action should not be taken against him for allowing Musharraf to escape. A major section of the media was airing similar views. The stand taken by the court, the Senate and the media forced those who matter to persuade Musharraf to surrender to the administration.
The interior ministry and police were under immense pressure to move in accordance with law. The caretaker Interior Minister was summoned by the Senate and asked why Musharraf was being kept at his farm house instead of the normal lock up. The Islamabad High Court meanwhile ordered the Secretary Interior to take action against the IG who was held responsible for letting Musharraf escape. Within hours higher police officials shifted the fugitive to Islamabad Police Headquarters which they thought would be more secure for him than the farmhouse. The former president cum army chief will be presented before an anti-terrorist court on Saturday where he will be required to prove that he had not ordered the arrest of the SC judges in 2007. It is for the ATC to bail him out or send him to lock up.
This is the first time that a former army chief has been arrested under a political dispensation (Gen. Tikka Khan’s brief incarceration as a PPP leader in protest was under Gen. Zia’s Martial Law). A lesson has thus been conveyed that all citizens irrespective of their social status are equal before law and there are no holy cows. Allowing Musharraf to stay at his luxurious farm house implied that some are more equal than others. The decision to arrest Musharraf or to keep him at the police headquarters does not bring down the image of the army. It is a decision against a former serviceman whose activities had bought bad name to the institution. By distancing itself from Musharraf’s actions and supporting the rule of law the army has improved its image. The action is in accordance with Gen Kayani’s much hailed assurance to keep army out of politics. There is a need henceforth on the part of every institution and agency of the state to work strictly within the scope and limits defined for it by the constitution. Transgressions weaken the system while adherence to the basic law strengthens it. Musharraf should henceforth cooperate with the courts instead of defying them.
