A historic decision

General in the dock with Article 6 invoked

Gen (Retd) Musharraf has finally received his comeuppance. It is for the first time in the life of the country that a former military dictator is being held accountable. A confident Musharraf had reached Karachi on March 24 to take part in elections. A week later he traveled to Islamabad to settle down in his palatial farmhouse with the airs of a man who considered himself above law. Proceedings in a number of cases which were moving at a snail’s pace during his absence from Pakistan suddenly picked up speed. The arrogant former dictator fled from the Islamabad High Court after orders were given for his arrest, something he had never expected. This should have shaken his confidence but he still considered himself to be invulnerable. Musharraf was finally detained in two rooms of his own guesthouse which were declared sub-jail. Subsequently he was arrested in several cases by the police. Military dictators who played a key role in dirty wars in South America have been punished. So have been the generals who conspired against democracy in Turkey. Never before has a former COAS been arrested by police, made to appear before courts or detained in Pakistan.

On Monday, addressing the National Assembly Nawaz Sharif announced that Musharraf had committed treason by abrogating the constitution and imposing a state of emergency in the country. He would therefore be tried for treason. Submitting his response in the Supreme Court the same day Attorney General Munir A. Malik stated that the procedure to try Musharraf under Article 6 of the constitution has begun today. The move would strengthen democracy in Pakistan and act as a disincentive for anyone nursing Bonapartist tendencies. The timing for trying Musharraf under Article 6 is ideal. Nawaz Sharif possesses a firm majority in the National Assembly. The opposition, as indicated by the statements of Khursheed Shah and PTI’s Shah Mahmud Qureshi, fully supports the prime minister’s decision. A national consensus on the trial might not have been feasible later on when the gulf is likely to increase with the opposition and there might be lesser public support for the government. It is for the Supreme Court now to proceed in a way that justice is not only done but is also seen to have been done. There is a perception that the case might open a Pandora’s Box. The apex court has to decide how to deal with the issue in a way that it does not divert the focus from the real culprit.

One of the biggest crimes the military rulers commit is to damage the image of the army as an institution. They are thus responsible for the gulf that is created between a highly respectable national institution and the general public. By distancing itself from Musharraf the army would for once improve its image. It is time the army realizes that its duty is confined to the defence of the geographical borders of the country.