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Will Musharraf Seek Refuge In Saudi Arabia

Author : Yogendra Bali | .

Posted on : Thursday, December 31, 2009

Living as a self exiled Pakistani in London, former Military Chief and President of Pakistan finds himself in fresh trouble thanks to an activist Supreme Court in Pakistan declaring the 2007 Emergency declared by him and his act thereafter as unconstitutional and illegal. That will force Musharraf to be in the dock as an accused. Will he dare face such a situation where his being convicted seems almost a certainty.

Not only that. What Musharraf may fear more is his detractors uncovering many of his secrets, including secret deals, taking advantage of the legal trial. They seem to be holding some explosive evidence which may also expose some of Musharraf’s deals with some present political rulers of Pakistan. The safest option for Musharraf would be to stay away in a safe haven, away from Pakistan.

In the context of the impending trial of Musharraf, the Saudi offer of refuge to him is timed to make it intriguing. The Pak media was naturally speculating on the shape of things to come. On August 3, the Pakistani daily Post reported, “The Saudi ambassador to Pakistan says the kingdom may grant asylum to the former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in the case he makes such a demand. Abdul Aziz bin Ibrahim Al Ghadeer''s comments came as Musharraf appears to be heading for trouble in the wake of the Pakistani Supreme Court declaring his imposition of emergency in 2007 as unconstitutional.”

On the same day, August 3, the Daily Times published two news items which touched upon the legal offensive going on against Musharraf. Imran Asghar reported that, “A Rawalpindi lawyer had asked the Islamabad police to register a treason case against former president Pervez Musharraf. Secretariat police have forwarded an application seeking the registration of a case to their legal experts, Secretariat Police Station duty officer Afsar Khalid confirmed. Sources had earlier said Khurum Manzoor had filed an application seeking registration of an FIR and legal action against Musharraf under Article 6 of constitution.

The same newspaper carried out a report from Lahore that former president Pervez Musharraf never took his cabinet into confidence on several key issues, including the war on terror, the Lal Masjid operation, restrictions on media, the judicial crisis and the operation against Nawab Akbar Bugti, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) dissident group leader Humayun Akhtar Khan has said.

Appearing in the television programme he told Daily Times Editor-in-Chief Najam Sethi that the cabinet did not endorse most of Musharraf’s executive decisions. He said the cabinet was not included in almost 99.9 percent of the political decisions taken by the former president during his tenure.”

Already Indicted In Public Eye

As it was, Pervez Musharraf seemed already indicted in the eye of the people and even if he received refuge in Saudi Arabia, his foes at home shall continue to cry for his blood.

The Pakistan Supreme Court may have declared as “unconstitutional and consequently illegal” General Pervez Musharraf’s proclamation of Emergency on November 3, 2007 but will he ever pay reparations for his acts during his dictatorship is moot. In many ways Pakistan is about to change dramatically for different reasons. Already a top member of the Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid-e-Azam), once described as the “King’s Party” because Musharraf had decided to use it to become a civilian Head of State has absolved himself of any complicity in all of Musharraf’s baleful acts. Significantly, Saudi Arabia was quick to offer him asylum perhaps worried about what may come out in court about the suspicious deaths of three Saudi princes who were in direct contact with Osama bin Laden of Al Qaeda or that of the Pakistan Chief of Air Staff who used PAF aircraft to ferry money and arms to the world’s most wanted man.

Upto Pak Parliament To Play Its Role

As a NATION editorial said on Ausust 3, “The Supreme Court verdict declaring the November 3 Emergency null and void and leaving it to Parliament to decide the fate of the various ordinances promulgated by former President Musharraf, has now diverted the public''s attention towards the supreme legislative body. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, therefore, rightly observed while talking to newsmen that it was up to Parliament to play its role. However, his remarks that the government had to move ahead with a balanced approach and ‘Parliament has to act very maturely’ have created some confusion about which possible expectations of the people he was expressing his reservations.

“Mr Gilani''s plea that the annulment of the 17th Amendment and Article 58(2b was part of the PPP''s manifesto, as well as within the provisions of the Charter of Democracy signed by late Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif, would not afford much comfort to the people. The fact remains that the PPP-led government has been in office for nearly a year and a half, but except for making banal expressions of intent over and over again it has not made any significant move to bring the Constitution back to its original form. The common conclusion is that since these constitutional measures make the President very powerful he is loath to get rid of them. The Prime Minister should know that it is not only the PPP and the PML(N) which want to remove these most glaring constitutional aberrations, but also a number of other political parties; there is a virtual consensus about undoing the 17th Amendment and Article 58(2b). Therefore, mustering two-thirds majority in Parliament to remove them should pose no big challenge.

“Since the issue of General Musharraf''s fate has been left to Parliament, it should waste no time in taking it up. He trampled over the Constitution freely during the eight years'' of his dictatorial rule and political parties of all shapes and hues have strongly expressed themselves against his actions. It is time Parliament acted to show him his place. That would constitute an effective deterrent to any aspiring Bonapartist in the future.”

Parliament Could Approve Trial

DAWN reported the same day, “Attorney General Pakistan Sardar Latif Khan Khosa said that Parliament could approve the trial of former president Pervez Musharraf by a simple majority resolution against his November 3, 2007 acts.

“Talking to reporters after the oath-taking ceremony of Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, the Attorney General said that if a resolution for conducting trial of the former president was moved in the Parliament, after its approval, the government would be bound to act upon the decision of the Parliament which was the supreme law-making body.”

Kamal Siddiqi wrote in NEWS, “As the dust settles on the landmark judgment given by our Supreme Court, questions will start to emerge about how things will move ahead. There are many questions that need to be answered about the fate of the judges who leave under the ruling and how and when these people will be replaced.

“While we are clear about the decisions and actions taken by President General Musharraf and what to honour and what to discard, one also needs to know about the fate of the decisions made by these judges too. Since we are now told that they were not judges in the first place, what do we do with the justice they dispensed?

“Our focus should be on the National Reconciliation Ordinance, to which it seems no one has reconciled. It is interesting to see who did take the benefit of the ordinance and were absolved of their crimes. The list is very telling.

“However, to be fair to those who got indemnity under the NRO, many were victims of the political victimization of previous governments of President Musharraf and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. People and politicians were kept in prison not because they were guilty but because they were not willing to do a deal - first with Saifur Rehman of the Accountability Bureau fame and then with the generals of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). We would, for example, like to know the details of the deal under which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ferreted out of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia despite the fact that he had been sentenced by a local court. What was the deal and what was promised? Who begged forgiveness from whom? One cannot say much since there are strong chances that Mian Nawaz may well end up becoming our next prime minister. The game has started. The media is once again become active. We are seeing stories of corruption and abuse of power resurfacing. Was the refuge offer an attempt to keep some secrets under cover?”

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