Musharraf Scampers

Another era of army dictatorship has come to an end in Pakistan; and for once, the dictator has stepped down himself. Musharraf’s resignation, amid the preparations of his impeachment by the ruling coalition, has been getting mixed reactions, no doubt. I, for one, would ike to see him impeached, tried, brought to justice, and hanged. Yes! Hanged. And that wouldn’t even be close to what I think he deserves.

I remember back in 99, when he took over, it was during my first semester in college. I heard the news from the Pakistani’s on campus when I went out for dinner that day. And yes, I was happy. In fact, I was excited. Very excited that Pakistan had gotten rid of a corrupt and looting government of Nawaz Sharif, even if that meant a dictatorship; a dictatorship that promised to hold elections in a very short time and let go of power.

But I guess I am no different from the rest of Pakistanis, am I? I believed what we were told. I ignored the past, and was swayed by the false promises; exactly like our nation has been doing for the past 61 years. Ignorant and stupid as we are. And as we watched, Musharraf followed in the footsteps of the former military dictators, the absolute power getting to his head, and he just grabbed on to it.

Amid mounting tension with India, with our forces amassed on the border, despite Musharraf’s trip to Agra earlier to make peace, he managed to sit on the shoulders of his core commanders, doing their bidding, for he had no choice. Musharraf was not a powerful dictator. He had not come into power on his own. If we look back, I am sure you’ll remember how he grabbed power. It wasn’t actually him who deposed Nawaz Sharif, it were the army elements loyal to him. Musharraf had simply gotten off his flight and told that, hey, you are the new president. And those who made him the president, controlled him as well. But only until September 11, 2001.

His fate changed that day. No matter how bad that day was for America, it was the luckiest day of Musharraf’s life. In an instant, he became the best friend of the most powerful man in the world. A buffoon, yes, but most powerful still. Bush, who when asked during his 2000 campaign if he knew who the president of Pakistan was, had said that he didn’t know, “Some military general?” I guess that’s what his answer had been. And now Musharraf found himself showered with favors.

He was accepted by the international community at last. Pakistan was re-accepted into the BCommonwealth, having had her membership revoked after Musharraf’s coup in 1999. The sanctions placed on Pakistan for the 1998 nuclear tests and the 1999 military take over were removed. And Pakistan was given the status of the most important non-NATO ally by the US.  It made him strong at home, because people thought he was responsible for everything good happening to the country, and it made him strong internationally. And above all, he didn’t need his core commanders’ support anymore; he had America backing him now. And Musharraf was a powerful Dictator at last.

But then he lost it. Musharraf’s idea of “Moderate Enlightenment” was the stupidest thing he could’ve done. The idea was to please the west. I don’t claim to be a man of faith, but a muslim, I am. And it is my strong belief that a muslim nation cannot prosper if it lets go off it’s faith. Musharraf made every attempt to eradicate Islam from the society; all to please the Americans. The outcome of his policies on religion are a totally different debate, but that is where he went wrong.

That is what made him most enemies, killing Pakistanis inside Pakistan, kidnapping muslims inside Pakistan and handing them over to the US, to be sent to Guantanamo, carrying out operations against people of his own country and houses of worship, the mosques…. all to please his masters, the leaders of the free world.

Musharraf was an asshole. IS an asshole. He writes very boldly about how Nawaz Sharif was loosing it and getting rid of all army chiefs who disagreed with him. And it was because of that that Musharraf had to come into power. And what did he do himself? Dismissed the Supreme Court judges because they were going to rule against his being elected president??

I’ll just end this rambling by saying that I am not one of those who are happy that Musharraf resigned, nothing better could be expected from that coward, I am just sad.. to see what direction Pakistan is moving into.