Musharraf misses his day in court
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistani president, retired General Pervez Musharraf, was
due to appear in the Supreme Court court in Islamabad on Wednesday to explain
why he fired the country's top judiciary and imposed emergency rule in November
2007.
Musharraf, though, who now lives in exile in England, did not respond to the
non-binding order issued last week by a 14-judge Supreme Court bench headed by
Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, the chief justice whom Musharraf suspended in March
2007, which sparked a judicial crisis culminating in the sacking of the
judiciary and the imposition of emergency rule.
Musharraf was not represented as the court began proceedings on Wednesday. "No
one represented him because he has not
received the summons," Bloomberg quoted Muhammad Ali Saif, Musharraf's
attorney, as saying. "Until he gets the court summons, he doesn't legally need
representation. When he gets it, we will defend."
No charges have been laid against Musharraf; the court has called for his
presence for talks that could form the basis of prosecution. There have been
many calls for Musharraf to be tried for high treason for allegedly subverting
the constitution.
The bold move to make Musharraf accountable - the first time this has happened
to a former military ruler in the country's history - most likely is the end
game in any bid by the former dictator to stage a comeback as both the military
and the United States have distanced themselves from him. Yet the case could
still have reverberations all the way to the top of the military establishment.
Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, controversially became
the US's pointman in the "war on terror" when he aligned Pakistan with
Washington after September 11, 2001, in the process abandoning the Taliban.
The resignation of Musharraf as president on August 18, 2008, to avoid
impeachment proceedings, was so abrupt that it raised many questions. The
biggest was whether the old guard of the former regime would be used by the US
as a vehicle to further its designs in the region, possibly even through a
coup. These fears were allayed with the installation last year of a civilian
government led by President Asif Ali Zardari, which now does Washington's
bidding.
In his initial response to last Wednesday's court decision to summons
Musharraf, Attorney General Sardar Latif Khosa said the government was not in a
position to defend him. "It is in the sharia, the constitution and the Supreme
Court's judgement that every person should be given the right to defend
himself."
The visiting US envoy with responsibility for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard
Holbrooke, said in categorical words that the former president was history and
the US would not rescue him.
Musharraf quit as chief of army staff on November 28, 2007, under a US-brokered
deal with former premier Benazir Bhutto. This turned out to be a bad decision
as the assassination of Bhutto in December 2007 changed the whole situation and
Musharraf was on the way to becoming yesterday's man: the US no longer
supported him and the military began to see him as a liability. New army chief
Ashfaq Parvez Kiani issued a notification that all army officers should stay
away from political figures.
Further, Kiani called on Nawaz Sharif, whose government Musharraf ousted in
1999, and assured him there was no grudge in the army against him and that all
past bitterness should be forgotten with Musharraf leaving the top army post.
At the same time, Kiani played a significant role this March in resolving the
dispute over for the restoration of Chaudhary and other judges sacked by
Musharraf.
There is now considerable speculation on whether Musharraf will be left to face
the music alone, or whether other people will be called to account for the
imposition of the emergency in 2007 and other events.
A constitutional expert, Hamid Khan, has commented that the case will not open
a Pandora's box, but the fact is that Musharraf signed the emergency order as
chief of army staff and it is documented that he took the decision after a
Corps Commanders' meeting attended by then-vice chief of army staff, Kiani,
besides other corps commanders, some of whom still hold powerful positions.
This alone will stir debate in the courtroom on the role of the military as an
institution - the institution that was strongly behind Musharraf throughout his
time in power. There is no escaping that when Chaudhary was summoned by
Musharraf for his resignation in March 2007, the general's chief advisors
included Kiani (then the director general of Inter-Services Intelligence) and
now-Lieutenant General Nadeem Taj (then director general of Military
Intelligence). They were present at the meeting at which Chaudhary was pressed
to resign.
"All of Musharraf's illegal actions will be discussed, which include forced
disappearances, one of the major causes for the sacking of Iftikhar Chaudhary,"
retired squadron leader Khalid Khawaja told Asia Times Online, referring to
Chaudhary's zeal in making the authorities accountable for missing people.
Khawaja is a flagbearer of the campaign for the release of detainees who have
been held for years in detention centers without trial. Most of them are
suspected of being linked to al-Qaeda or the Taliban.
Khawaja has also filed applications to register a case against Musharraf over
the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) incident of July 2007 in which security forces
stormed the radical mosque and killed a number of militants who had sought
sanctuary there.
Khawaja has applied to make the entire Islamabad administration and then-corps
commander of Rawalpindi, Tariq Majeed - now chairman of the Joints Chief of
Army Staff - co-accused in the case. "Even if these people have retired, we
have to pursue the cases against them," Khawaja said.
It is not unthinkable that Khawaja's case will proceed. The judiciary, since
being restored, has become increasingly activist, challenging government
decisions in all spheres of life - from electricity rates to fuel price
increases.
Should this happen, and top military people feel the heat, there is always the
possibility of a coup to displace the US-backed coalition of secular and
liberal political parties led by Zardari. This has been the standard way, with
the army governing for 32 of Pakistan's 62 years.
It's a long shot, but Musharraf's missed day in court may yet turn out to be a
day to remember.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can
be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
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The bold move to make Musharraf accountable - the first time this has happened
to a former military ruler in the country's history - most likely is the end
game in any bid by the former dictator to stage a comeback as both the military
and the United States have distanced themselves from him. Yet the case could
still have reverberations all the way to the top of the military establishment.
