US has dropped support for Musharraf

A political analyst says the United States has dropped support for former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf who ‘may not be able to get bail renewed’ over Islamabad’s accusations.

Musharraf has vowed to fight what he described as politically inspired and false charges against him. The Pakistani government has accused him of imprisoning judges and conspiring to murder opposition leader Benazir Bhutto during his rule. In March, Musharraf returned home after nearly four years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai to run for the parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to be held on May 11.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Naveed Ahmad, an investigative journalist from Islamabad. Ahmad is joined by Syed Ali Wasif from Society for International Reforms & Research in Washington. The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Mr. Ahmad, why do you think that Mr. Musharraf chose to return from the UK at this time, after four years of being in a self-imposed exile, why now?

Ahmad: Well there was somewhere a doubt in his mind that he has left very good memories with the Pakistani people and Pakistanis are sick and tired of what [the Pakistan] Peoples Party’s government has been doing over the past five years, which he actually handed over under a secret deal and which let him govern the country for about a year after it took over.

So, the feeling within pro-Musharrafs was that there was not going to be any possibility of elections going to his legacy of war against terror that has actually ripped Pakistani economy and society apart. And secondly, his aids in Pakistan – and some of them who are sitting in foreign capitals – were telling him ‘you are still the hero and you are going to make a lot of difference, people still miss you.’ This was all through Facebook. I think Musharraf was not following Twitter, where people tend to speak the truth more than that.

Now, when he comes to Pakistan he realizes that the military is not at his back that he thought it would be.
Then he also realizes that the media is not with him, which he thought he can buy off. And thirdly he also did not realize that the United States, his mentor, would also [not] be supporting him, and the United States on the second or third day of this trial gives a clear press release [stating] that ‘I will be staying neutral in this situation and we want to see a peaceful and democratic Pakistan, whatever that may mean for the US,’ but at least then Pervez Musharraf could really get the message.

On top of it all, the vote in Pakistan is only for democracy now. Pakistan was created after the 3rd June (1947), a plebiscite amongst the Muslims. It was not a dictatorship. Pakistanis always loved democracy and General Pervez Musharraf was an illegitimate tyrant and he was not the president and was not so much accepted by the people. And that’s what we saw when he went beyond a certain line of patience, people kicked him out.

So, I don’t think Musharraf is going to survive these whole CDs of cases that he has. He may get bail in this anti-terrorist court thing, but there are three or four cases that he may not be able to get bail renewed. He has got two bails renewed in two different cases, but not anymore.

Press TV: Do you think that Mr. Musharraf is being used as a scapegoat or how do you see this in the whole scheme of things.

Ahmad: This is pretty funny when people really forget about how he came into power and what was the way to enter the power circles and corridors. Whatever he did till 2005 or 2006 until the 18th amendment came, there would be and there can be questions about chief justice and there can be questions about the previous judiciary, which sanctioned him for that matter, which was not very legal, democratic or constitutional to have him rule the country for a certain period of time. But Musharraf’s 3rd November emergency (the Pakistani state of emergency, 2007) has not been vindicated by the Supreme Court or by the parliament of Pakistan.

The judges and their return to their chambers after this whole mess that he created was authenticated, verified and established by the parliament of Pakistan unanimously, without people opposing it. This is what some of the people who really look at Musharraf as the Messiah forget to know how this whole process went ahead. His sacking of judges has not been cleared by the parliament. Those judges are not retired chief justices or whatever he made of for his own self.

The media’s job is to report and the media was one single and most important arm of the state, which actually threw Musharraf out. The judge’s movement had an equal rule of media to really put Musharraf in that corner where he was.

You cannot really compare a retired general or a general who comes into power and then becomes a so-called president with someone who is democratically elected.

We believe still that Musharraf did not have the guts to stay in jail and be someone like Nelson Mandela and such powerful and important leaders of Pakistan left the country under the merci of these generals.

Now in this country, as of today, as of this date, we have so many people who are really out and who really do not want any retired or serving general to intervene.

One last point that this gentleman raised was about the other people. Musharraf was leading the show, and when Musharraf was leading the show and all of those acts that were not really seconded by or accepted by the parliament, whosoever was involved, would come into play. Just wait awhile.

He’s being respectfully treated. He is living in a mess. His children and his family is not starving in the so-called ‘Chak Shahzad’ villa or whatever. He’s being kept in a very respectable manner and he’s not handcuffed and he’s not held in front of public and beaten. This was what was going on with the judges.

Press TV: You said that he is being treated with respect and everything. I want to look at how likely is it that Mr. Musharraf has been promised that basically he will not have to serve long-term and perhaps that he will be able to reenter the political scene in Pakistan.

Ahmad: I did not get your question, are you saying that he will not serve jail for a long-term and that he will enter the politics?

Press TV: I am asking you the possibility of that. That do you think that he perhaps was promised of that possibility. Being after four years that suddenly he decided, of course you said he was monitoring some of the social network sites, but obviously, a person to take everything, to take that type of a risk. Do you think that perhaps he has been promised something that he believes that he will not have to serve and that actually that he can reenter?

Ahmad: I think that it’s sheer overconfidence that this man has left. He went into plebiscite amongst the Muslims without calculating what India’s response could be and how India will react in ’99 in the Kargil debacle and he had this debacle thrown on the face of the entire nation.

Now, in this case as well, this crazy decided to come back to Pakistan against the advice of the Americans, the Saudis, the UAE, the friends that he had and some vice Pakistani columnist, which have a soft corner for him. It was very clear to those people who were in Pakistan.

Press TV: You perspective on that. Is there discrimination according to what Mr. Wasif has said basically based on his background.

Ahmad: First of all, when you run out of logic you go into a shouting match with somebody who is doing somewhere sitting in the United States and condemning it. My point on this is that General Pervez Musharraf has a much bigger constituency to back him instead of these terrorists in Karachi who are branded as MQM (Muttahida Quami Movement).

What he would be looking and his spokesmen said, General Arshad and Qureshi, that military should come in a general or a former army chief is being humiliated. That is where he draws it all apart and that is where all this overconfidence came in. He is still banking till the last moment that there could be a possibility that the military [will] come to my rescue.

I don’t think that there is any ethnic element involved. I myself speak Urdu and was born in Karachi. The people of Karachi do not see things. It is a city which is very cosmopolitan and I think that somebody who is sitting in Washington has not actually visited Pakistan and seen the reality of today’s Pakistan. There is no fight between two bigger and lesser evils and somebody supporting Musharraf and [former Prime Minister] Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto’s party. There are other people who are active in politics. Even Pakistan is heading towards a three-party contest. There is no alliance with PML-N (Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) with any party that he can solve this fighting, contesting elections alone. The Peoples Party has some alliances somewhere, but predominantly Pakistan is heading towards it’s the Arab Spring kind of thing happening again after 2007. Pakistanis are willing to have team leaders.

Press TV: Mr. Ahmed your take on Mr. Wasif’s point [of why General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, the Peoples Party and the judges responsible for allowing Americans to carry out drone attacks have not been put on trial].

Ahmad: Well I have a take on this man called Pervez Musharraf. Anybody having power or authority to make decisions will be held responsible for any violation of international or national laws. In that case, General Musharraf was just helping the power in Pakistan.

In the case of these drone attacks that continued during the Peoples Party’s government. The Peoples Party’s leadership, whosoever was the prime minister, should be held accountable for that – you know, sort it out.

At some point in time parliament started talking about it. We debated and it was unanimously said that these are illegal and we condemn it and Pakistan now has taken a clear stance that these are intolerable. Let the elections be over and you will see more.