Saying Goodbye
By Dr. Ghayur Ayub
London, UK
Up until recently, President Musharaf took pride in saying that he would stay in power till 2012 and beyond. Now, except for his chosen few, everyone in the country and abroad is talking about his ‘safe passage.’ It must be heartbreaking for him to say goodbye to the presidency after slicing his skin-deep uniform under pressure of what he used to call the ‘non-civilized’ democrats.
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The Missing Man’
Under the caption of the ‘Missing man’, The Washington Post pointed out that the name of President Musharaf was distinctly missing from a prepared testimony presented by Negroponte before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 28. A similar testimony in November mentioned Musharraf 11 times. This time around, his name was replaced with the word ‘democratic forces’.
I wonder how the ex-general would feel finding his name in the list of ‘missing persons’ from the official documents of the State Department; in a different context of course. Confronted with similar circumstances Reza Pehlawi of Iran, General Ramos of Philippine and General Panache of Chile were put on such lists but they packed up their bags and said goodbye to power.
