And accountability?

Many of those who saw General Musharraf take his farewell guard of honor as president of Pakistan must have surely wondered that why was a man who had twice mangled the constitution of the country, launched a vicious attack on the country's judiciary and independent media and who allowed intelligence agencies under his watch to pick up Pakistani citizens and hold them incommunicado at will was being given such a respectable send-off. Of course, one only has to consider that what happens to an ordinary law-breaker and whether he can ever expect to be allowed to go away scot-free. It seems that the higher the degree and quantum of violation the more chance for the perpetrator to get away without any punishment.

That the former president was hugely unpopular as his rule went on can be easily gauged by the spontaneous jubilation and celebrations that broke out all over the country on the afternoon of Aug 18 as he announced - finally, some may say - that he was resigning. Similar scenes were witnessed in parliament where Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani went to say on record that the seventeenth amendment would also be done away with. This is intriguing given that this amendment allowed indemnity to many of the actions of General Musharraf including his coup of Oct 12, 1999. In this context, a statement by Baloch nationalist leader Sardar Ataullah Mengal that the former president should be treated in the same manner that he treated Balochistan also merits some scrutiny. Mr Mengal has said that the people of the country want justice to be served and this can only be done by holding Mr Musharraf accountable for all his misdeeds, which include twice holding the constitution in abeyance.

There are many who would disagree with Mr Mengal, not least because they would say that the nation desperately needs stability and a sense of certainty and dragging the former president through the courts would only exacerbate matters. However, there is some merit to what Mr Mengal is saying because if yet another dictator is allowed to leave the scene without paying for his sins, who is to say that in some years time, if this elected government is undermined (as some have been in the past) and falls out of favor with the people, the military and certain foreign powers, another savior arises on the scene. Besides, if the reason that the general is being allowed safe passage is because the military and certain foreign powers want that, then surely this is not something that ordinary Pakistanis would agree with. How else will a strong message be sent to future would-be adventurers and Bonapartists, except to haul up those who have wronged the nation?

We need to break with the past, a past where the misdeeds of many a dictator were brushed under the carpet, hidden from public view, with the people conveniently told that bygones should be bygones. That is precisely democracy has not taken root in Pakistan and why we have seen a stream of military interventions and their accompanying 'saviors' - surely we should have learnt some lessons from this and now is the time for our collective atonement.

Posted on: 20-August-2008

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Source: The News (http://www.thenews.com.pk)

Comments on this article

On Wednesday, 20-August-2008 at 1:08:36 PM, Mateen said:
We easily speak about punishing dictators, but we don’t care about punishing the corrupt politicians who have been looting the country, and sucking the blood of the poor masses of this country. At least the dictator left with dignity, but the politicians don’t even think of leaving the powers.

On Wednesday, 20-August-2008 at 12:08:50 PM, Sajjad said:
After all Mr. Musharraf was the President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and he was holding premium office in the country there i consider the act of saluting and honoring with guards is proper to say farewell to a President leaving his office lest Mr. Musharraf was having bad intentions or not.