THE one who sets out to please everyone ends up angering all. Accused by a large number of Pakistanis of violating the constitution and selling out the country, Gen Pervez Musharraf is blamed for allowing ‘the terrorism wound to fester.’ In a new book, a former French investigating judge, Jean-Louis Brugiere, raps Gen Musharraf for ‘failing to address the threat of extremism’ during his time in power. In a potentially damaging statement, Brugiere says that in 2003 — two years after Pakistan joined the war against terror — Pakistani army officers were still acting as instructors ‘in training camps run by a group of militants.’

The French-language book is aptly titled Ce que je n’ai pas pu dir (What I couldn’t reveal) and invites the question: what took you so long, sir? Rebuttals from the Pakistani establishment are likely and inevitably the democrats here will use the opportunity to once again lay bare the West’s tendency to ignore errant dictators wherever and whenever it suits them. This is a fair comment but one that should not camouflage the dangerous Pakistani realities of today. There are three standard ways of looking at this fresh piece of ‘evidence.’ One, Mr Musharraf is guilty as charged; two, the general did try to control the monster of terrorism but was thwarted by the old jihadist guard within the system; and three, the allegations raised by the French judge are baseless. While many of us may want to opt for the third explanation, reports in the domestic media which say camps have existed here and militants have been trained are hard to deny. The list of local and foreign suspects to blame the injury on is long.

But ultimately it is our wound more than anyone else’s. It demands local remedies.