But July 3 court order haunts government
Former military dictator Pervez Musharraf came back to fight in the May 2013 national elections. He saw no welcoming crowds and he capitulated or was captured by the courts. He must have known that his overthrow of a democratically elected government in 1999 and the other excesses of his prolonged rule had made him many enemies (a dubious art at which he rather excelled) and that the courts would readily take up cudgels on their behalf both on the basis of their earlier decisions and the fresh petitions lodged against him. Perhaps he thought of clearing his name while the going was good.
One rather suspects that he may also have imagined that his parent institution would never allow its former head to be publicly humiliated beyond a certain limit. And, lo and behold, the general was acquitted in all the high profile cases of serious nature pending against him, despite all the politicians’ vows, the media frenzy and the public’s tall expectations, save the High Treason case, in which the apex court had already passed an order on July 3 putting the onus of pursuing it on the government. The general’s counsel has since filed a petition for removing his name from the Exit Control List to enable him to fly to Dubai to be at the bedside of an ailing close relative. Simultaneously a former president of the Rawalpindi High Court Bar has also petitioned the court to prosecute the prime minister for not following up the case under Article 6 and to restrain the former strongman from leaving the country. The court has sought the official position in the matter on November 18, but then hardly anyone is likely to take a rigid position on such an emotive issue, and one rather feels, if past experience be any guide, that a caged bird would soon be on the wing to freer climes. As with all other issues of national import, there was much hue and cry, much raving and ranting in parliament and on the television channels and much hope about a general paying for his crimes this time, but nothing of substance emerged from all the hype. With a huge question mark hanging over the government’s performance so far and problems galore, the latter is not going to ruffle any plumed feathers at this stage. No doubt, when all is said and done, the entire affair would turn out only to be a storm in a teacup.
