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.
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