Now that dream lays shattered, not fully but substantially for Pervez Musharraf. The nemesis for him once again is a judiciary that too at a time when his ‘All Pakistan Muslim League (APML)’ has begun to see desertions by the dozen at the senior and junior level alike.
A Rawalpindi Judge Shahid Raffique has decreed that former President’s property be seized and his bank accounts frozen in connection with the legal case concerning the assassination of Benazir Bhutto over thee year ago.
Rawalpindi is the garrison city and the home for army’s GHQ, where none of his erstwhile colleagues and subordinates in Khaki uniform have any love for him. Benazir was assassinated on Dec. 27, 2007, when she was sensing victory in the elections Musharraf himself had ordered after striking several comprises with her and other invisible players on Pakistani scene. The government formed by Benazir’s husband, the proverbial Mr Ten percent, should have brought Musharraf home to stand trial in the assassination case. It did not. On the other hand, the Asif Ali Zardari government persuaded the UN panel probing the assassination first to delay the report and then when the report came in in April 2010, simply ignored it. And Musharraf was allowed to leave the country in 2008 and to live in exile in London and Dubai.
Judge Shahid Raffique’s order demonstrates that all is not lost in Pakistan and the long arm of law, if it so wishes, is capable of catching the wanted by his shirt collar. During the hearing on Saturday, the judge ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to confiscate all of Musharraf’s property for failing to respond to arrest warrants, which were issued on February 12, 2011. The FIA has been pleading inability to arrest him. One reason advanced was that in the absence of an extradition treaty with the Britain, he cannot be brought back home from London, which is his present permanent address.
When Benazir was killed, Musharraf promptly held the local Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud and Al-Qaida responsible though he did not come up with evidence to back up his claim. He appeared to be more concerned of deflecting attention away from the establishment, which was inimical to her and was in fact not keen on her return from her self-imposed exile in London.
The three-member inquiry commission appointed by the United Nations at the behest of Zardari government was scathing in its indictment of the Pakistani system. Chilean Ambassador to UN, Heraldo Muñoz, former attorney-general of Indonesia, Marzuki Darusman, and veteran Irish Police Official, Peter Fitzgerald, who constituted the probe team said in their report: “No one believed the 15-year-old suicide bomber who killed Ms. Bhutto acted alone. …. The failure to examine her death effectively appeared to be deliberate”.
The report did not say who it believed to be responsible for Benazir’s death. But in so many words, it said the buck should stop at the door of Musharraf and the army- police top brass of the day, who as subsequent demonstrated have an immunity cover that only a police state can offer.
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“Responsibility for Ms. Bhutto’s security on the day of her assassination rested with the federal Government, the Government of Punjab and the Rawalpindi District Police. None of these entities took necessary measures to respond to the extraordinary, fresh and urgent security risks that they knew she faced,” the United Nations Inquiry reported said.
It went on to add: “A range of Government officials failed profoundly in their efforts first to protect Ms. Bhutto and second to investigate with vigour all those responsible for her murder, not only in the execution of the attack, but also in its conception, planning and financing.”
Two other observations in the report are no less important.
“Particularly inexcusable was the Government’s failure to direct provincial authorities to provide Ms. Bhutto the same stringent and specific security measures it ordered on 22 October 2007 for two other former prime ministers who belonged to the main political party supporting General Musharraf,” the report said.
And added: “This discriminatory treatment is profoundly troubling given the devastating attempt on her life only three days earlier and the specific threats against her which were being tracked by the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence agency). . Ms. Bhutto faced serious threats in Pakistan from a number of sources. These included Al-Qaida, the Taliban and local jihadi groups, and potentially from elements in the Pakistani establishment. Notwithstanding these threats, the investigation into her assassination focused on pursuing lower-level operatives allegedly linked to Baitullah Mehsud.”
Benazir is still fresh in the memory of the people of Pakistan. Her Peoples’ Party of Pakistan has been doing its best to benefit from the sympathy factor. So much so, the All Pakistan Muslim League of Pervez Musharraf has some real trouble in the days ahead.
