Raju Korti
For his sheer propensity for the holier than thou, one needs to hand it to former president and general Pervez Musharraf. If you ignored the man's chameleonic character, Musharraf, who fled Pakistan to return after four years of "self imposed exile", has proclaimed with his usual bluster that "I am among those people who think of the country and the citizens." His precise timing to return to his troubled homeland shows just that, albeit in a contradictory manner.
Having seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, Musharraf knows he is In The Line of Fire, to quote the name of his book. Ironically, Musharraf authored the paens to himself in the book when he was putting all parliamentary, judicial and democratic institutions in the firing line even when his crooked mind plotted the misadventure in Kargil without the knowledge of his prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Like all politicians, he nursed grandiose ideas of his popularity by holding a rigged and bogus referendum to endorse himself as the President. Dictators across the world are not known to have survived their whimsical rule for long and Musharraf was no exception, though he did a shade better than many others. Obviously buoyed by the track record of the military rulers of the likes of the stupid Ayub Khan and the sinister Zia ul Haq, Musharraf survived for mainly two reasons: His carefully cultivated image as a suave and modern leader who wanted to bring his nation out of the fundamental morass even while egging the religious extremism against India and the United States. He found a convenient ally in the Americans, both thriving on political double standards. But two-timing never pays and he had to pay for this double cross, having to play along with the Americans in the war in Afghanistan. On the flip side, he harnessed the mushrooming militant groups waiting to strike against India.
Musharraf who never hid his admiration of Kamal Ataturk, used his devious mind to attack Kargil much against the wishes of his senior civilian and military officials. But the hush hush plan to infiltrate Kashmiri forces came a cropper after a heightened international pressure forced Sharif to withdraw the insurgents. It was here that the seeds of Musharraf-Sharif dispute were sown in. For the wily general, this was an intolerable snub, having had got rid of Benazir Bhutto, herself brought up on the hate politics of her more malicious father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Without bothering to go into the history that led to the ouster of Nawaz Sharif and the subsequent series of events, Musharraf finally miscalculated the consequences of holding elections. When you live in your ivory towers, you lose connect with people. Musharraf fell in the same pit he had dug up for the Opposition which was itching to settle scores with him. Besides Pakistan's people, always caught between the military and civilian crossfire, didn't want the man to foist himself any more. His image brutalized, he fell dramatically and mass movements bayed for his impeachment. True to his character, he called his four-year stray in London as "self imposed exile" and mobilized a party of his own to run for the National Assembly.
The General may have heralded his return to tumultuous Pakistan with a lot a of stage-managed fanfare, but the roadmap from here is anything but easy. He is already a marked man, targeted by Taliban and the present military establishment. Democratic dispensations are wary of him, given his past record at treachery and political somersaults.
Behind the army demeanor, there lurks a hard-core politician. Aware of the rebuffs that dot his path, he has already met with a few. His nomination papers were rejected for his acts of "reason and corruption", a clause Indian electoral system could well draw from. But howsoever Musharraf wants to propagandize his love for Pakistan, no one is hoodwinked into believing that and the man has landed back on his home soil because he hardly had any option. He is obviously trying to make a virtue of his compulsion.
There are a string of cases lined up against him. Having trampled all institutions during his cleverly manipulative regime, he is everybody's burden. Elevating such a man at the helm again is fraught with the consequences Pakistani people may not try to experiment with.
Take it. This is a do-or-die battle for Musharraf. He will be consigned to the dustbin of history if his outfit fails to come to power. But so mercurial is the country's political health and so helpless are the people that it is dicey to predict electoral outcomes there. In any case, civilian governments are run like puppets by the Army which is also rife with dissensions. If not anything, the courts will play activists, which miffed Musharraf when he was all-in-all.
There is, of course, this one in hundred chance that the man might return to craft his fledgling country. No one knows better than Musharraf that anything is possible in his country where ferment is the order of the day.
Welcome to Pakistan where only the most insidious survive.
Having seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, Musharraf knows he is In The Line of Fire, to quote the name of his book. Ironically, Musharraf authored the paens to himself in the book when he was putting all parliamentary, judicial and democratic institutions in the firing line even when his crooked mind plotted the misadventure in Kargil without the knowledge of his prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Like all politicians, he nursed grandiose ideas of his popularity by holding a rigged and bogus referendum to endorse himself as the President. Dictators across the world are not known to have survived their whimsical rule for long and Musharraf was no exception, though he did a shade better than many others. Obviously buoyed by the track record of the military rulers of the likes of the stupid Ayub Khan and the sinister Zia ul Haq, Musharraf survived for mainly two reasons: His carefully cultivated image as a suave and modern leader who wanted to bring his nation out of the fundamental morass even while egging the religious extremism against India and the United States. He found a convenient ally in the Americans, both thriving on political double standards. But two-timing never pays and he had to pay for this double cross, having to play along with the Americans in the war in Afghanistan. On the flip side, he harnessed the mushrooming militant groups waiting to strike against India.
Musharraf who never hid his admiration of Kamal Ataturk, used his devious mind to attack Kargil much against the wishes of his senior civilian and military officials. But the hush hush plan to infiltrate Kashmiri forces came a cropper after a heightened international pressure forced Sharif to withdraw the insurgents. It was here that the seeds of Musharraf-Sharif dispute were sown in. For the wily general, this was an intolerable snub, having had got rid of Benazir Bhutto, herself brought up on the hate politics of her more malicious father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
Without bothering to go into the history that led to the ouster of Nawaz Sharif and the subsequent series of events, Musharraf finally miscalculated the consequences of holding elections. When you live in your ivory towers, you lose connect with people. Musharraf fell in the same pit he had dug up for the Opposition which was itching to settle scores with him. Besides Pakistan's people, always caught between the military and civilian crossfire, didn't want the man to foist himself any more. His image brutalized, he fell dramatically and mass movements bayed for his impeachment. True to his character, he called his four-year stray in London as "self imposed exile" and mobilized a party of his own to run for the National Assembly.
The General may have heralded his return to tumultuous Pakistan with a lot a of stage-managed fanfare, but the roadmap from here is anything but easy. He is already a marked man, targeted by Taliban and the present military establishment. Democratic dispensations are wary of him, given his past record at treachery and political somersaults.
Behind the army demeanor, there lurks a hard-core politician. Aware of the rebuffs that dot his path, he has already met with a few. His nomination papers were rejected for his acts of "reason and corruption", a clause Indian electoral system could well draw from. But howsoever Musharraf wants to propagandize his love for Pakistan, no one is hoodwinked into believing that and the man has landed back on his home soil because he hardly had any option. He is obviously trying to make a virtue of his compulsion.
There are a string of cases lined up against him. Having trampled all institutions during his cleverly manipulative regime, he is everybody's burden. Elevating such a man at the helm again is fraught with the consequences Pakistani people may not try to experiment with.
Take it. This is a do-or-die battle for Musharraf. He will be consigned to the dustbin of history if his outfit fails to come to power. But so mercurial is the country's political health and so helpless are the people that it is dicey to predict electoral outcomes there. In any case, civilian governments are run like puppets by the Army which is also rife with dissensions. If not anything, the courts will play activists, which miffed Musharraf when he was all-in-all.
There is, of course, this one in hundred chance that the man might return to craft his fledgling country. No one knows better than Musharraf that anything is possible in his country where ferment is the order of the day.
Welcome to Pakistan where only the most insidious survive.
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