THE very best news to come out after the Mother of All Elections, even eclipsing the news that the largest political parties in the country, the PPP and the PML-N had come together to form coalition governments at the centre and in Punjab, was the news that the Commando was seriously thinking of removing himself from the scene sooner rather than later.
It was as if a huge weight had lifted from my heart: as if I had been liberated. I even began to think kindly about Musharraf, spontaneously praying that he has a safe and happy retirement. It is good that he leaves, the sooner the better, and before the elected governments take office particularly because of the mutilation of our Constitution at the hands of the diabolical minds that surround him. With him will go the strife and trouble too.
A former officer of the Special Service Group (SSG) wrote me an email asking me not to make fun of the word ‘Commando’ just because of Gen (Retd) Musharraf, because people like my correspondent had honourably served to the best of their ability and were proud to have done so.
He is right, in that the vast majority of our Commandos, past and present, are excellent, upright, gentlemanly soldiers. I am sure that none of them cheated during the nine-mile run at the Pakistan Military Academy; none of them absented themselves without leave and then bragged about it; and surely, none of them learnt how to make time-bombs at their colleges which then held them in good stead in the SSG! (Read In the Line of Fire, I beg you, dear reader, and stand up, Humayun Gauhar).
I, therefore, apologise most sincerely to all those who have served in the SSG/serve in that elite regiment and regret very much any hurt I might have caused them. However, I also make clear that when I refer to Gen (Retd) Musharraf as ‘The Commando’ I do so because he doesn’t let us forget he was once-upon-a-time a Commando. I refer to him as Commando because he swaggers rather a lot and is aggressive towards anyone he does not abide.
By the way, he once even said he would deliver ‘The Last Punch’ (to Nawaz Sharif) when his junta so disgracefully expelled the former premier from the country despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that he could return home without let or hindrance. I had then advised him that I had two months before his threat met Nawaz Sharif and had found him in such very strong fettle Masha’allah that the Commando should think twice before entering a boxing ring with him! So, to all the honourable people in, and of, the SSG, I say I do not mean you gentlemen at all but only Gen (Retd) Musharraf when I say ‘The Commando’.
Whilst I have had some flak (three emails) directed at me for saying in my last column that the recently concluded elections would be rigged, I got seven emails telling me how right I was! They WERE rigged weren’t they, to a great extent? Whilst pre-poll rigging is extremely well-documented by bank cheques written by the Government of the Punjab, people I know swear that they saw many voters vote nineteen times and more! Ballot boxes were stolen; they were stuffed; even the now banned YouTube carries video clips of it. Every body and Charlie’s aunt knows by now that if it wasn’t for clear orders from GHQ for the agencies to hold their hand it WOULD have been the Mother of All Rigging.
And hang on a minute, all you Musharraf fans who think butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. Have you forgotten what he himself said about the election just one day before they were to be held: “They will be won by the PML-Q and the MQM” is what the Commando said! And did his very own Attorney General not say too, that they would be massively rigged?
Lets all of us face the truth: blind hatred for the previous order ruled by Pervez Musharraf and for his handmaiden junta headed by the House of Gujrat was so deep-seated that the people so overwhelmingly repudiated them that even the rigging they did was not enough to save their skins.
In any case, The Mother of All Elections happened to bode ill for Gen (Retd) Musharraf just as the Mother of All Battles was bad for Saddam Hussein. The only hope is that whilst in the latter case Saddam took his country down with him, Musharraf will have the honour to abide by his own promise to leave if he finds that the people no longer want him. How else should the people tell him they don’t want him?
A big Mubarik to Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif for behaving like great statesmen and agreeing to come into a coalition both in the centre and Punjab. And the pox on those who are advocating to both to go it without the other and team up with the smaller parties, including the King’s Party.
Special opprobrium of course, upon the American administration and the British government, for so shamelessly and so foolishly going on and on about their full support for Musharraf despite the clear verdict of the people against the man. They should realise sooner rather than later that they are closing the door upon themselves, and that if they persist in their diabolical plans that they will lose whatever little good name they have left in the region, let alone in this country.
American foolishness doesn’t merely stop here. Asked whether the new civilian leaders will change course in the Tribal Areas a senior Bush administration official said: “We still expect the [Pakistan] Army is going to take the necessary military action.” Of course it will; but under the orders of the civilian government, duly approved by the parliament. The Pakistan Army is an organ of the State, not the State, somebody ought to tell the man.
And could John McCain, the quite frightening Republican contender for the White House, please stop calling Musharraf ‘a legitimately elected president’. Simply because most Pakistanis do not think so!
Bushism of the Week: “I’m oftentimes asked, what difference does it make to America if people are dying of malaria in a place like Ghana? It means a lot. It means a lot morally, it means a lot from a – it’s in our national interest” – President George W Bush; Accra, Ghana, Feb 20, 2008
P.S. And please, could the People’s Party stop all and sundry from commenting on the growing judicial crisis -- in what capacity does Babar Awan pronounce against senior party leader Aitzaz Ahsan?
kshafi1@yahoo.co.uk