Charges against Musharraf
By Naveed Khan
San Jose, CA
Musharraf's dictatorship spanning nine years has been an abject failure in terms of nation building, welfare of the people, strength of the state institutions, rule of law and constitution, and battle against extremism. Volumes could be transcribed about each of these failures, but in this letter today I wish to make a case for the trial of Musharraf for crimes against Pakistan and the Pakistani people.
Hundreds of Pakistanis have disappeared, kidnapped by the state agencies with no recourse to law to prove their innocence. Many of them have been transported or handed over to the USA authorities without any legal due process and in most cases for a ransom for Pakistan Military. When the deposed Supreme Court judges tried to dispense justice to the relatives of these unfortunate individuals, their efforts were thwarted and information delayed. When the judges persevered, they were dismissed and jailed. Hundreds of Pakistanis still wait for the answer to the disappearance of the next of their kin and the case must be investigated to its fullest. I wish to know if the kidnappings, incarceration, torture, rendition and killing of Pakistanis happened with the knowledge and sanction of President Musharraf.
Musharraf must be tried for the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti. Mr. Bugti's only crime was that he fought for the rights of his province's people and demanded equal treatment and justice for them. He wanted that Baloch people should have the right to the enormous mineral and fossil fuel wealth in that province. He was murdered by the Pakistan Military at the orders of Musharraf and he should be answerable to a court of law. In contrast to Musharraf, who is a usurper, Bugti was twice elected by the people of Balochistan.
On May 12, 2007 Musharraf ordered his supporters from MQM to openly and brazenly kill people who had gathered to welcome Chief Justice of Pakistan to Karachi. After the massacre, any legal or administrative proceedings to determine the facts was stopped so that the plan to kill people on the streets of Karachi is not revealed.
In his desire to maintain his hold on power, he dismissed and arrested the Chief Justice of Pakistan on November 3, 2007. Unprecedented, in shameful and coercive acts of the world’s most notorious dictators, he destroyed Pakistan judicial systems. In his insatiable greed for power he deprived the people of Pakistan their fundamental rights to have access to a competent judiciary that could protect their rights.
Musharraf's incompetence failed to protect Pakistans' most popular leader Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf, at the helm of affairs and with total control over all the resources, failed to provide proper protection to BB and her assassination has thus caused immeasurable damage to Pakistan's integrity and solidarity. In his latest interview with Jemima Khan, he has expressed his disdain for Benazir's Bhutto's return to Pakistan and I would not be surprised if the assassination of Bhutto was on the direct orders of his government, carried out by now well known extremists who are under the control of the government's secret agencies, like the ISI. I would fully support the new government’s effort to have the UN open an inquiry about the planning, logistic support, intelligence and monetary assistance to the killers of Bhutto. I would not be astonished if it all traces back to the Presidential Camp Office in Rawalpindi.
There are numerous criminal charges that could be instituted against Musharraf. I have only described five that in opinion should be the basis for uncovering the greatest criminal job perpetrated on the people of Pakistan. We need to find the facts, the truth and unmask the criminal doings of Musharraf's government, if peace, reconciliation and the rule of law has to be established in Pakistan.
