Pervez Musharraf was the victim of the success of his own liberal policies, writes Mushahid Hussain, secretary general, Pakistan Muslim League (Q), in Tehelka:
Mushahid Hussain
IT WAS September 2004. General Pervez Musharraf had made a public commitment in December 2003 that he would take off his uniform by December 2004. I was woken by my son well past midnight: “Baba, the President wants to speak to you”. General Musharraf came on the line, and quickly came to the point. I could hear a popular Lata number from the 1960s. He said, “Mushahid, tell me, what is the worst case scenario if I decide not to take off my uniform?” I said I would discuss it over lunch the next day. My meeting with him took place in the presence of Tariq Aziz, his most trusted confidant and his main back-channel negotiator with India. My thrust was two-fold: a lesson from the past and what could happen in the future. While strongly advocating that he take off his uniform – a view endorsed by Tariq Aziz as well – I told him, “Please remember what happened to your three military predecessors – Field Marshal Ayub Khan, General Yahya Khan, and General Zia ul-Haq. In the end, all three were ditched by their own colleagues in the military after the ground realities changed. The institution of the army is bigger then any individual. I do not want this to happen to you – that you outlive your welcome.”
I also told him, if you choose to renege on your commitment, then you will end up making the mother of all deals with Benazir Bhutto to stay on in power. He listened carefully and then gave a list of reasons why his uniform was necessary in the “supreme national interest”, including the peace process with India and the quest for Kashmir.
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End of a Beginning
Mohsin Hamid, author of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, in Time magazine:
Pervez Musharraf
As a Pakistani, pleased though I am by Pervez Musharraf’s resignation as President, I cannot but fear that this week’s celebrations could prove to be short-lived. Yes, his departure will make Pakistan more democratic and was long overdue. But it will not in itself cure the myriad ills facing the country.
Musharraf’s legacy is a mixed one. Like many Pakistanis, I was appalled when he seized control of Pakistan in 1999. Pakistan had stagnated in the 1990s under the bickering and incompetent elected governments of Benazir Bhutto and her rival Nawaz Sharif. But I recalled the damage done by the oppressive dictatorship of General Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s and had no desire to see Pakistan revert to military rule.
[via 3quarksdaily]
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