In a bid to start his political career, the former president of Pakistan Gen Pervez Musharaf has announced launching of his political party with the name,’ All Pakistan Muslim League’. He announced this in London today evening while addressing a selected gathering of his loyalists.
The launching of All Pakistan Muslim League is a welcome move that will effect the existing political scenario in the country. Pakistan is passing through a critical stage of her history. People who had pinned their hopes with the democracy have been dismayed with the performance of the elected government. Although Pervez Musharaf was removed from power after he lost his popularity, but the failure of the civilian government has given him new courage to stage a come back in the politics.
Pervez Musharaf has many good qualities. He is upright, outspoken and straight forward person. He is a patriot down to earth and wanted to do many good things for Pakistan. He has the courage to call spade a spade. I remember during the early days of his assuming power he visited Azad Jammu & Kasmir. While addressing the public he categorically said that ‘from now onwards the talks with India will be held on the issue of Kashmir and Kashmir only’. He acted up on his words and when he visited India, the issue of Kashmir was on top of the agenda. Obviously the Indian leaders were not ready to give such a preference to Kashmir, thus the common statement could not be announced and Musharaf came back without signing anything. He was not ready to make unimportant and trivial announcements just to ‘fill in the blank.’
However Pervez Musharaf has many shortcomings also. As a leader he lacks the vision of future. He makes hasty decisions and commits mistakes in the process. He is normally not aware of the results and the outcomes of his actions and statements. He joined hands with the US and allies to fight war on terror and in the process brought all the destruction and miseries of the war to his country. He has many blunders to his credit. Pakistan has suffered a loss of $50 billion in this war but Musharaf failed to receive the compensation from the world community commensurate with the loss. Obviously no amount of compensation can make up the loss of life which is estimated around 20,000.
He entered in discreet agreements with the US whereby he handed over many Pakistani citizens to them on the pretext of their involvement with Al Qaeda. The scandal of missing persons still haunts a large number of families. The drone attacks by the US inside Pakistan is the legacy of Musharaf. The brutal use of force to deal with the terrorists who took refuge in Lal Mosque in Islamabad has left such a deep scar on Pakistan that has not yet heeled. The murder of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti gave impetus to the fire of hate and has created a deep gulf between the separatists in Balochistan and the pro Pakistan forces. He gave many concessions to India by assuring them of no interference from across the borders in Kashmir without getting anything in return. Rather Pakistan got the acute shortage of water in her rivers, as Indian constructed many dams illegally on those rivers and Pakistani government did not do anything.
A large number of actions of Pervez Musharaf didi not support his rhetoric of ‘Pakistan First’. Had he been true to his words, he would have removed his uniform in 2004 as per his commitment. Moreover he should not have given free hand to his political supporters to indulge in corruption. He should not have sacked Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan for his impartial inquiries in Steel Mill selling case and missing person case. That was the biggest blunder of Musharaf which cost him his president ship. When the lawyer’s movement duly supported by civil society and political parties grew beyond proportion, Musharaf remained oblivious about what was coming next. Had he been smart enough he would have taken back the references against the Chief Justice and thus had defused the situation. After the reinstatement of the Chief Justice, the case of eligibility for his being in the office and for contesting presidential elections while in uniform came in question in the Supreme Court. Had he kept ‘Pakistan First’ and not his ‘person first’ he would have given free hand to judiciary to decide about his future. Had he lost his office, the heavens would not have fallen. But he abrogated the constitution of the country second time in his tenure in a bid to save his chair and thus sealed his future. Again as a leader he could not comprehend the aftermath of his fateful decision.
Despite all this, his entry into the politics is a good gesture as both the large political parties, Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) have failed to deliver. There is no other leader as yet who can fill the gap and lead the country. If Pervez Musharaf is successful on his return to Pakistan, it will be more due to the failure of other parties rather than for his political acumen. However if Pervez Musharaf is serious in playing some positive role in the politics, he will have to restore his credibility which he lost during the last phase of his being in power. He will have to learn lessons from the mistakes of the past. He will have to be in step with the aspirations of the people. He will have to create a balance in his diplomatic relations with other powers, particularly the US. He will to take a firm stand on issues like Kashmir and Indus water treaty with India. It must be known to Pervez Musharaf that the environment in Pakistan are now quite different. The judiciary is independent and the media is free. The people are now well aware of what all is happening even behind the curtains. So the governance in Pakistan will not be bed of roses now.
And last but not the least. It is inspiring to learn that the insignia on the party flag of Pervez Musharaf is the eagle. This reminds me of the ‘Shaheen (eagle) of Iqbal. I hope Pervez Musharaf knows the traits of the ‘eagle of Iqbal’. This nation direly needs that eagle. You never know this privilege becomes the fortune of Pervez Musharaf, but only if he proves to be capable of handling that responsibility.
