The question is actually of Civil-Military Imbalance and this is the issue which must be addressed by the Military and Civilians both, otherwise Pakistan will go around in circles. Trying Musharraf for Treason is good but wait, did Musharraf commit treason in November 2007 by imposing emergency or did he commit treason on 12 October 1999 ? If we try Musharraf for the unconstitutional steps he took in 2007 then the ultimate question would be : How did he reach to 2007 ? Should we just forget the period from 1999 to 2007 wherein not only Musharraf but the Judiciary and other Generals were also involved with him along with several PCOs. Also, how would we define the General Elections of 2002 which were held under the military regime watch of Musharraf? And since he was the COAS from 1999 to 2007 , where would we put the legislation done between 1999 to 2007? and also, what about the 2008 Elections which were conducted by the then retired General Pervez Musharraf ?
Our political parties, for the very sake of politics, pressurized the government of Mr Nawaz Sharif to hold Musharraf accountable for Treason even though the parties themselves brokered deals with Musharraf during all these years, for example NRO and the MMA Coalition government with General Pervez Musharraf between 2002 to 2007. Even during the peak of War on Terror, the religious parties were allies of the General Pervez Musharraf manufactured Pakistan Muslim League (Q) . As a nation we have very short memories, because the biggest media house in Pakistan which insisted upon trying Pervez Musharraf alone is forgetting what they used to publish in 1999 before the Martial Law and even after it, they justified Pervez Musharraf’s 12 Oct 1999 Military coup. Even Benazir Bhutto praised General Pervez Musharraf as a Professional Soldier in 1999.
Leading Muslim League (Nawaz) leaders had been provided relief by the Military Regime of Pervez Musharraf, and that must not have been without guarantees. Above all, how can we forget the reply of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to the SC for the events of March 2007 wherein he also blamed the ISI Chief (without taking his name ) claiming that he insisted that the CJ resign. People joined PML (N) after they saw that Musharraf’s days are numbered. The very same people supported Musharraf throughout the period between 2002 to 2007, so much so that the leaders of PML Q who are now in PML N were brazenly supporting the alleged Military Dictator even when Musharraf resigned. They were the ones who wrongly blamed Mr Nawaz Sharif for the Kargil debacle. My humble suggestion would be to establish a Commission on Martial Law , bury this chapter once and for all, initiate a debate on Civil Military Imbalance and move on. The government is already busy on multiples fronts and if we insist on trying General Pervez Musharraf alone, there would be so much fuss that the government won’t be able to control the fallout. Reference: THE MUSHARRAF SAGA June 16, 2014 BY Aamir Mughal http://thewordtheatre.com/2014/06/16/the-musharraf-saga/
Source/References:
1 - Ex-CGS gives more facts about Army-US relations News Desk Tuesday, September 16, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=136075&Cat=2&dt=9/16/2008
2 - GHQ had strongly opposed handing over Pakistanis to US - Ex-CGS says Musharraf allowed US drones despite top commanders’ opposition by Ansar Abbasi Sunday, September 14, 2008 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=17248&Cat=13&dt=9/14/2008
3 - Five judges elevated to SC Bureau Report Week Ending : 5 February 2000 Issue : 06/05 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/spa/zohkohb0i282t94/Area%20Studies/public/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/05feb00.html#five
4 - Justice Iftikhar sworn in as CJP July 01, 2005 http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/national/01-Jul-2005/justice-iftikhar-sworn-in-as-cjp
5 - Chaudhry Iftikhar named new CJ May 08, 2005 http://www.dawn.com/news/138344/chaudhry-iftikhar-named-new-cj
6 - World: South Asia Pakistan's coup: Why the army acted Wednesday, October 13, 1999 Published at 23:20 GMT 00:20 UK http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/473297.stm
7 - Benazir blames Nawaz for Army take-over Week Ending : 16 October 1999 Issue : 05/42 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/spa/zohkohb0i282t94/Area%20Studies/public/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1999/16oct99.html#bena
8 - Benazir says she has nothing to hide from probe Week Ending : 23 October 1999 Issue : 05/43 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/spa/zohkohb0i282t94/Area%20Studies/public/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1999/23oct99.html#says
9 - Mushahid freed: aims to unite PML BY Ihtashamul Haque Week Ending : 30 December 2000 Issue : 06/50 https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/spa/zohkohb0i282t94/Area%20Studies/public/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/2000/dec3000.html#mush
10 - CJ says chiefs of MI, ISI asked him to quit: Affidavit on March 9 camp office event By Iftikhar A. Khan May 30, 2007 http://www.dawn.com/news/249454/cj-says-chiefs-of-mi-isi-asked-him-to-quit-affidavit-on-march-9-camp-office-even
11 - Musharraf 'most popular leader': Azeem October 13, 2006 http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/national/13-Oct-2006/musharraf-most-popular-leader-azeem
12 - Musharraf will not leave Pakistan: Azeem August 20, 2008 http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/national/20-Aug-2008/musharraf-will-not-leave-pakistan-azeem
13 - OFFICIAL COUNTERPOINT:Kargil, Nawaz Sharif and Allah —by Tariq Azim Khan 28 July 2004 http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/28-Jul-2004/official-counterpoint-kargil-nawaz-sharif-and-allah-tariq-azim-khan
14 - Sharif removed Musharraf after a phone call: Gen Butt Oct 12, 2010 http://www.dawn.com/news/848878/sharif-removed-musharraf-after-a-phone-call-gen-butt
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