Pakistan’s former Chief of Army Staff and former president, Pervez Musharraf is the hot top in the print, electronic and social media networks thank to the ‘treason case’ against him. How ironic is the fact that a soldier is being lambasted by politicians who messed up the state. Musharraf returned back to his country even after knowing that he would face the wrath of the politicians and now he has been indicted after a sham trial. As stated by the interpreter of Pakistan’s constitution, ex-COAS suspended the constitution and therefore he is being charged as traitor.
Musharraf was not the first one, who enforced martial law in the country. After cursory glance at the history; we would find the first martial law administrator was Ayub Khan (1957–58), second Yahya Khan (1968–69), third one was the only civilian martial law administrator Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (1971–73), fourth was Zia-ul-Haq (1977–79) and the last one was Musharraf (1999–2001).
Interestingly none of the former dictators were indicted in any treason cases, but only Musharraf is being targeted. The father of 1973’s constitution, Bhutto was the part of dictator’s reign so could he charge Ayub Khan or Yahya Khan as traitor? No, hence this file closed. The current Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif was also the part of another dictator’s regime then how could he launch cases against Zia-ul-Haq or his dictatorial reigns? If he goes for it ultimately he will also be charged as a traitor? Hence this file goes in the shredder. Irony is this that Musharraf is not being prosecuted for his coup in 1999. Why? Well it can get some bigwigs into great trouble, because after his take-over, scores of politicians supported Musharraf’s stance and if Musharraf is prosecuted on that then a couple of big shots will also have to go down with him.
Surprisingly, politicians who are declaring Musharraf a traitor for his unconstitutional acts are forgetting that they took an oath from the same traitor after 2008’s general elections. The political party which has the biggest bone to pick with Musharraf, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) legislators had showed confidence on Musharraf and legally had accepted his legitimacy as a president by taking oath from him. According to media reports, cabinet members belonging to PPP, PML-N, ANP, JUI-F and FATA ministers took oath from the president of the state at that time — Musharraf. Here it’s the list of 24 ministers who took oath in the cabinet inducted by former president Pervez Musharraf. 11 ministers from PPP, 09 from PML-N, 02 from ANP, and 01 from FATA took oath on 31st March, 2008.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Ahsan Iqbal, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Haji Rehmatullah Kakar, Sherry Rehman, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Farooq H. Naik, Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Khawja Asif, Mir Hamayoon Aziz Kurd, Syed Naveed Qamar, Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, Tehmina Daultana, Nawabzada Khawaja Muhammad Khan Hoti, Najmuddin Khan, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Khawaja Saad Rafique. Rehman Malik will be Advisor on Interior.
None of these so-called democratic ministers repudiated to take oath from a military dictator and traitor who suspended Pakistan’s constitution. Recently, Saad Rafique said, “There is no doubt that Musharraf is a traitor; he is Pakistan’s worst offender”. Mr. Rafique, if he was traitor or worst offender of the state then why would you not refuse to take oath from him? He further stated that Musharraf should have to act like a man and avoid dramatic acts. Mr. Rafique, why did you not act like a man and rule-out the portfolio at that time? Why did you forget that you are taking oath from a traitor? On the other side, Ahsan Iqbal and Kh.
Asif from PML-N folds are also lambasting Musharraf. The question is same, why did they take oath just for the sake of some ministries? If Musharraf is a traitor or an offender under article-6, then how come those ministers who took oath under his presidency are patriots exactly? Should they not have to be tried for showing confidence in a traitor?
It is easy to declare anyone a traitor when you are in power, but these politicians should have to assess that how many times did they let down the country and its nation? I am not commending Musharraf’s move but yes he should not be called or treated the way he is being treated with.
There are numerous state/public issues and all should be sorted out instead of veiling all of them under this case. An ex -army chief who dented considerable damage to India yet still is the only army chief in the history of sub-continent who received a standing ovation in India for his straight talk and blunt words. Musharraf was a dictator but under his rule lower and middle class people led their lives in a much better way than these patriotic politicians’ era.
Fast forward, these politicians have no rights to label anyone as a traitor while they took oath and came back to the country after signing agreements with the same traitor. If he is a traitor then you are also a one!
P.S: If the person, who fought two wars for Pakistan, took bullets for this country and near-sacrificed his life for us is a traitor then I support such traitor instead of such tax evaders and corrupt patriotic politicians.
