Needed: An Explanation on Musharraf
By Karamatullah K. Ghori
Toronto, Canada
The process of the generals calling the shots—even when they may not be up front on the political scene—in Pakistan and setting the compass for the direction it may take for its tortuous plodding through the marshes of times has never stopped. It’s back, with vengeance, in the context of retired General Pervez Musharraf and his trial on treason before a special court.
This scribe has never had a moment of doubt—from that moment when I saw Musharraf’s elaborate convoy of SUVs and security escorts speeding, not in the direction of the court in Islamabad but to the military fortress of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) in Rawalpindi—that every detail of the script to shield the ex-chief of the Pakistan Army from the reach of the law had been meticulously scripted.
Musharraf was whisked away to the safety of AFIC with full complicity of the entire military brass. That he has been holed up there, in the VIP suite of the Institute, and refuses to come out of his fox-hole, is evidence, in spades, of the military brass being complicit in his machination to avoid appearance before the special court.
That ‘great escapade’ is, by now, five-week-old. But in these five weeks, Musharraf hasn’t regained enough from that stroke of depression he had on his way to the court to make an appearance at the court, despite repeated summons. The good doctors at AFIC are there to serve the commando and cater to all his whims. They apparently had no compunction in coming up with a medical report tailored to Musharraf’s requirements.
The AFIC medical report reads like Musharraf had dictated it to one of his paid minions—or one of the lawyers defending the cowering commando—and the good doctors of AFIC signed it with their eyes closed. It’s pathetic, an insult to the good name of the medical profession. But, then, you can’t put anything beyond bumbling Bonapartes of Pakistan.
No medical procedure has been done on Musharraf in all these five weeks; not even angiography, which would be the first procedure done on one said to have a heart ailment. But the made-to-order AFIC report says the former commando—who boasted of his prowess from every pulpit—is under tremendous stress. Such is the monumental ‘stress’ of the commando that if he was ever exposed before the court of law supposed to try him his life would be threatened. Spare him that ‘grave’ risk, the report seems to suggest between the lines. Spare him the agony of being driven a few kilometers to the precincts of the court; or else it could be curtains for the ‘brave-heart’ commando.
But , read the report further, please, and you will have a revelation like none before.
It recommends that the commando be allowed to have his medical treatment at a clinic of ‘his choice.’ Fine. Now, extrapolate to it the report from a crony heart specialist doctor of Musharraf from the United States. Of course, this doctor couldn’t be of any other provenance but Pakistan. Musharraf had conferred on him —a heart specialist—one of Pakistan’s highest civil awards, the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, when the commando was the uncrowned Emperor of Pakistan. So, all that the Pakistani doctor from US is doing is returning the compliment to the patient-under-stress.
The decorated doctor is loud and clear in his own tailor-made report. He says his illustrious patient can only be treated in the US (which he has served with such devotion and loyalty for years); his exposure to any other environment could be fatal for him.
So you can’t fault the ‘good’ doctors of AFIC for being alone in pleading that their patient be allowed to go abroad for treatment; here’s this Pakistani doctor strongly suggesting the same.
What could be a better alibi for the AFIC’s ‘honest’ medical doctors to insist that the hatch of the coop be opened and the ‘bird’ be allowed to fly out. See, the doctors, singing in chorus, and dancing to the same tune, are only trying to help the commando escape the wrath of the law of Pakistan. ‘Have a heart,’ they seem to be saying to those 86 % of the Pakistanis who want Musharraf to be prosecuted for treason, according to a Gallup opinion poll; doesn’t he, their commando, have a right to enjoy those millions of dollars he has stashed away in his safety nests in the US, Britain and Dubai. ’If you don’t enjoy your miserable living in Pakistan’ they are arguing, ‘it doesn’t mean that Musharraf shouldn’t enjoy his either in the lap of luxury and comforts awaiting him abroad?’
It seems Nawaz Sharif has erred, once again, in his choice of an army chief. His minions may go on arguing that their PM has found a gem. But what these cohorts of Nawaz and their naïve ‘leader’ sadly don’t understand is that the name or the face of the man chosen to lead the army is of no importance or consequence. The end result would be the same, whether it’s Musharraf, or Raheel, or X, Y, or Z at the helm.
The fault, as Shakespeare would argue, is in the stars, dear PM. So why on earth should the ’leaders of men’ be bracketed with ‘bloody civilians?’ A special breed of mankind can’t be pooled with lesser mortals; the chosen ones can’t be in the same league with children of a lesser god. For Pete’s sake don’t make the mistake of arguing that civilian leaders have been chained, dragged before the courts, kicked out of office and even hanged. You can’t be serious comparing Musharraf with the likes of Zulfi Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Zardari or Yusuf Raza Gilani. They were ‘bloody civilians,’ for God’s sake; Musharraf is a general, a former chief; you can’t demean him before a civil court of law—or any court of law, for that matter.
So here we are. The nation may cry murder; people may bewail and beat their chests over the brutal sacrilege of law in Pakistan.
But what about equality before the law of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Sir? That’s a myth, a figment of your imagination, dear man. End of argument. But whoever said every country in the world may have an army, but in Pakistan the army has a country, was so damned right. Wasn’t he?
- K_K_ghori@yahoo.com
(The author is a former ambassador and career diplomat)
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