Islamabad - For the majority of political leaders in
Pakistan's ruling coalition the planned impeachment of President
Pervez Musharraf is a means to do away with the military dictatorship
and put the country back on a democratic track.
But for others it is a way to make the retired general pay for
what they call his illegal actions, ranging from treason to murder,
over the eight years of his rule.
'He has killed my leader and father-in-law Nawab Akbar Bugti and
hundreds more in Balochistan,' said Shahid Bugti, a member of the
Senate, the upper house of parliament, which is preparing for an
impeachment vote against Musharraf later this month in a joint
session with the lower house.
'I want to have the honour of being the first one to vote against
General Musharraf,' he added.
'But only his ouster is not enough,' said the lawmaker. 'I would
press the parliament not to give him a safe exit or allow him to
leave the country after impeachment without being held accountable
for what he has done to this country and its people.'
The former chief minister of south-western Balochistan province,
Akbar Bugti, led an armed nationalist movement of ethnic Baloch
tribes in 2004 seeking autonomy as well as a greater share of
revenues generated from the natural resources in the region.
To suppress the campaign, Musharraf's government deployed military
troops, artillery, helicopter gunships and fighter jets to target
rebel hideouts. Hundreds of Baloch fighters, dozens of security
personnel and many civilians died in the conflict, including Akbar
Bugti.
According to the government, Akbar Bugti died in a cave where he
was hiding during an armed conflict with troops. However, his
relatives and supporters say Musharraf had a personal grudge against
the provincial chief.
A few weeks earlier Musharraf said in a speech that Nawab Sahab
(Akbar Bugti) would be hit with something he would never know where
it had come from, said his son-in-law. Being killed by an army
missile his relatives say is proof it was an extra-judicial killing.
'If Saddam Hussain can be hanged for killing Kurd nationalists,
why Musharraf cannot be tried for killing Baloch nationalists?' asked
Shahid Bugti.
Musharraf, who has already survived at least three assassination
attempts by al-Qaeda terrorists, is not only scorned by the secular
Baloch ethnic population, but also by radical Islamists.
The Islamic survivors of Islamabad's Red Mosque operation have
long been rallying for Musharraf's trial and eventually execution for
'mass murder' and the use of banned phosphorous bombs in last year's
commando action.
Umme Hassan, the former principal of the female Islamic seminary -
Jamia Hafsa - at the Red Mosque, claimed more than 3,000 innocent
women and children died in the military operation, which was launched
after a week-long stand-off with heavily armed militants entrenched
in the compound.
According to government claims, around 100 people, including 12
elite troops, died in the assault.
'The bloodshed could have been averted,' said Hassan. 'The
government negotiators and the mosque administration had almost
reached a deal to end the conflict on the night of July 9 but
Musharraf interfered and illegally ordered the operation the next
morning.'
Up until last year Musharraf was known as a strong leader who had
subdued sectarian violence that had killed hundreds of Shiite and
Sunni Muslims before he took over in a coup in 1999 and was publicly
supported.
His philosophy of 'enlightened moderation' brought significant
social change by securing more rights for women, more female presence
in the parliament and workplace. There was also greater press
freedom, which led to a proliferation of print media as well as news
channels, which are currently lashing him with harsh criticism.
Musharraf's withdrawal of support for the Taliban regime after
9/11 attacks on the United States saved the country from a major
disaster that could have resulted in a direct conflict with the US.
In return, Pakistan received billions of dollars in aid from the
US and other western countries that helped Pakistan's fragile economy
grow an average of 7 per cent between 2002 and 2007.
But in 2007 a downward spiral began when Musharraf imposed
emergency rule and suspended more than 60 senior judges in a bid to
avert a Supreme Court ruling against his controversial presidential
election for a second term.
He put the judges under house arrest for several weeks, sparking
mass protests.
The democratic consciousness, for which Musharraf is at least
partly responsible for developing, took the measures as a clear
expression of dictatorial ambitions and voted against his political
allies in February 18 elections.
Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan People's
Party of slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto formed a coalition
government.
The influential legal community, which has been leading a campaign
for the restoration of the judiciary, has recently demanded
Musharraf's trial for treason committed when he suspended the
constitution and proclaimed an emergency. The crime, if proven,
carries a death penalty.
The independent Human Right Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), which
strongly opposes the death penalty, says the list of Musharraf's
'crimes and sins is too long to be ignored' and also wants to hold
his cronies 'accountable' across the border, according to Iqbal
Haider, co-chairman of the HRCP.
But besieged and isolated at home, the president still has some
international friends, including the US, Britain and Saudi Arabia
which are reportedly rallying to secure an amnesty for him.
Information Minister Sherry Rehman said it was the parliament and
the coalition leaders who would decide as how the saga is concluded.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story