Monday, February 10, 2014

Musharraf’s ordeal



Musharraf is in the news again. The once fearsome SSG general who toppled the takht of Lahore and shooed away the so called Lion of Punjab into exile is struggling to gain some political traction. Just how low can his fortunes have fallen can be deduced from the fact that he is hiding away like a coward in AIFC, trying to dodge the judicial proceedings against him. If there is anyone responsible for his downfall, it is the man himself.

I always thought that Musharraf had too much arrogance in him. Yes, arr
ogance and not swagger - these are two different things. Recall his naked threat to Bugti? Or his cruel indifference and barely concealed warning to BB about him holding the reins of her security? Not to forget his strategic fiasco called Kargil, which almost lead to a full blown war between Nuclear powers. In the end, the country paid the price for his poor judgments. The litany of his blunders makes for a somber reading.
 
Musharraf’s crimes are many. Top of the list is his sheer incompetence. It makes one shudder that this is the type of Generalship that runs the world's fifth biggest nuclear powered military? From the Kargil disaster to the loss of territory to Taliban and, from his double dealings in Afghanistan to his delayed action on Laal Masjid, Musharraf has left an indelible mark of sheer incompetence in his wake. This is the man who was at the top of his game prior to the summer of 2007. He held all the cards yet barely a year later he was out of office and his chief nemesis were running the country and calling the shots. If there ever is a book: How Not to Run a Country for Dummies, then Musharraf would star in it with his many follies.

The problem with Musharraf was exactly what had inflicted his Khaki predecessors; they all wanted to feel legitimized. May be Pakistan should have gotten a true dictator or a democrat. Every dictator which comes to rule this country ends up trying to be a democrat. May be it is because we as a diverse nation are too temperamental in nature to bear a fearsome dictator like some other countries.

Musharraf had a chance to make history especially after the golden opportunity which was served up post 9/11. He could have shelved the Jihadi legacy of Zia and sorted his generals out to ditch the bankrupt strategic depth doctrine and solidify a strategic partnership with the Americans for economic development. Instead, he went on to play double games. Running with the hare and hunting with the hound can get you only so far. As the world watched, Pakistan’s Talibanisation began with a blood fest. First the FATA tribal areas fell followed by the formation of the fearsome TTP that went on to capture and rule Swat – inside Pakistan proper. The mere fact that the cancerous spread of Taliban and the Jihadi ideology may blowback never stirred the imagination of our strategic geniuses in Rawalpindi. During all this Musharraf continued to believe his own rhetoric and the ultimate lie which he made into a slogan – Pakistan first. It was anything but Pakistan first. His experiment with sham democracy is another miserable tale. 

Musharraf left in his wake a country in a near civil war. The Baloch insurgency, the most potent in years due to his making a martyr out of Bugti and ceding the control of North West Pakistan to Taliban are some of the highlights of his misrule. There are many others such as covering up the whole Abdul Qadir Khan nuclear fiasco. This is his legacy yet he still has the gall to blame the politicians. Today Musharraf is nothing but an old man: still living in the fantasy of his imagined importance. He continues to rely on the army as pressure on him to be tried piles up. At most he is nothing but an embarrassment for the all-powerful army.


11 comments:

Amrinder said...

An insightful critique and one of the best written articles on Gen. Musharraf about his failings as a leader, the opportunities he missed to capitalize upon for the good of nation and the wrong choices he made that are the root cause of present day mess we are in as a nation. The writer beautifully combines her acuity and rich expression to provide the reader with a compelling yet true portrait of a leader who not only failed the nation he had chosen to lead but in the end caused his own fall from grace.

Scheherazade said...

@Amrinder - Thank you for your kind comments. It is indeed very unfortunate that Musharraf failed to do the right thing when he had all the power in the world to change the course of Pakistan's history.

M Tarar said...

A very well written summary of the dictator's shenanigans. It's pretty amusing to see the messiah complex that grips some of these gents in their twilight years. If he had any common sense, he would go away and never come back. He's only turning himself into a clown and a sad one at that.

Anyway, keep writing and hope to read more from you. :)

Aasim said...

Having known the Gentleman personally I can assure that many of your deductions and analysis are faulty.Moreover you ought to have given him some credit for the rapid economic development of the country as compared the later government of LUTERAS and now that of SHOPKEEPERS. He made two major mistakes though, first the NRO and second siding with PMLQ. It was characterless Pakistani politicians who scavenged in the end on the achievements of Musharraf.

Khushal Khan said...

Times have changed for the better in Pakistan. Airing one's opinions about Military dictators, and that too in public, was once an impossibility. Not anymore though. It is through public discussions and debates about the rule of a military dictator of this sort that we can hope to one day reach a point where coups would not be acceptable and where people like Gen. Musharraf would have to think twice before even contemplating a take-over.

This is a very well written article about all that this man has done, most of which, is at the root of the chaos and the mess that we find ourselves in these days. I'd hope that you'll continue to write.

There are still those among us who actually not only justify dictatorships but who also make it a point to quote examples of apparent 'progress' by the country under dictators. Hopefully, such segments of the society will one day realize, that no amount of progress made can compensate for the fact that abrogation of the constitution to rule through a dictatorship, achieved by a military coup can never be acceptable.

Aasim said...

Mr Khushal if 99% people in this country would love to live under a dictator if toamtoes willbe sold at 200 rs per kilo. Western democracy is a farce, a sham which is selectively applied by the Illuminati in selected areas of the world to acheive their goals. Muders of Kennedyand lady Diana are just two examples where democracy becomes a tool in the hands of people running the world government. When will Pakistanis realize that democracy is the biggest of satanic enticements to befool the people and distract them from the path of Khilafah ?

Aasim said...

Now the repercussions of putting Musharraf to trial have started to surface

Anonymous said...

Nothing will happen Folks,dont live in fools paradise.nothing is goin to happen to musharraf. Everything is planned. First of all musharraf came here with the assurance of Saudis and US. It may be his popularity stunt. Media is trying to make this issue bigger than its impact so dont speculate and It is based on reality which you have covered in your above mentioned article and its merely on my own analysis that i have written..
Muhammad Waqas Aslam

Aasim said...

But in the process the damage being caused by fools like Khawaja Asif is irreparable and irreverasable

Anonymous said...

I guess this forum is fucked.

Anonymous said...

silence afterall