Irish Sun
Monday 11th August, 2008
(IANS)
There were no flowers and no cards either for Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on his 65th birthday Monday as uncertainty ruled the day with the government preparing to impeach him on charges of murder, corruption and misuse of power in the last nine years.
Born in New Delhi on Aug 11, 1943, Musharraf is unlikely to forget this 65th birthday -- the day the National Assembly and provincial assemblies are set to initiate the impeachment process against the military dictator who has vowed to fight until parliament passes the resolution.
'We have not received a single bouquet or birthday card so far,' an official of the presidency told IANS.
A far cry from the celebrations last year when hundreds of bouquets and gifts poured in to felicitate the man who took over power on Oct 12, 1999 when he ousted the Nawaz Sharif government in a coup.
Last year, Musharraf had cut a huge cake in a party to which several guests were invited. According to an informed official, a music party was arranged in which the recently sacked chief of the Federal Bureau of Revenue Abdullah Yusuf even danced on a popular song by the renowned Noor Jehan.
The video of this function is available on YouTube; and on Monday morning, people had started circulating the link. 'Mush days are numbered... no celebrations this year; presidency mourns the birthday; no guests this year,' read one message.
Musharraf's family crossed the border after the 1947 partition of India. He joined the army in 1964 and rose to its highest position in 1998 when his predecessor, General Jehangir Karamat, had to resign two days after he gave a statement on the army's role in politics.
Musharraf was chosen by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif to head the army superseding five senior generals. He later developed differences with Sharif and in a counter coup dismissed his elected government. A year later, Sharif was sent to exile in Saudi Arabia.
The wheel has turned again, and the ruling coalition of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to start impeachment proceedings against Musharraf.
In December last year, bowing to national and international pressure, Musharraf quit the army and installed General Ashfaq Kiyani as his successor and took oath as civilian president.
Unfortunately for him, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, the party backed by him, lost the February polls, making way for adversary Sharif's PML-N and the PPP to form a government and launch a movement against him.
'It's not deliberate. Just a coincidence that the process is being started on his birthday,' PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal told journalists. He said his party was not in favour of giving Musharraf a safe passage.
'A man who had been involved in killing hundreds of Pakistanis, who got money for handing over the countrymen, who sacked the elected prime minister, who initiated false charges against politicians should not be spared,' Iqbal said angrily.
As president Musharraf survived five murder attempts. He had once said that he had nine lives and only six had been used up.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday delayed his departure for China to attend the Olympic Games opening for the second time in as many days amid crucial talks between ruling coalition allies on his fate.
Musharraf's birthday gift: Impeachment on Aug 11
Pakistan's ruling coalition is expected to move an impeachment motion against Musharraf in parliament on August 11, which incidentally is also his birthday.
In an apparent breakthrough, Pakistan's two main ruling coalition allies on Thursday said they have reached an 'understanding' on impeaching President Pervez Musharraf [Images] and reinstating judges sacked by him last year, with Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz declaring that the two steps will be taken "within days".
After three days of marathon talks, PML-N leaders said the two parties had reached broad agreement on the two issues.
Pakistan Peoples' Party sources said that the two parties had been able to resolve differences that had arisen following Musharraf suddenly approving a proposal to reinstate eight judges of the Sindh high court whom he had sacked during last year's emergency rule.
PML-N spokesman Siddique-ul-Farooq said the impeachment of Musharraf would be followed by the restoration of the deposed judges "within 24 hours".
Farooq told reporters, "I think it may take days, not weeks. Both the (impeachment and reinstatement of deposed judges) will be completed within days."
Farooq also said both parties cannot "afford further delays" on the impeachment and restoration of the deposed judges, two thorny issues they have grappled with since they came together in March to form a coalition.
Senior PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, a confidant of Sharif, said, "I can say that an understanding has been reached on all important issues and we will present the outcome of our consultations before the nation. I am very hopeful that it will be a positive outcome."
Law secretary Agha Rafiq said no formal notification had been issued for restoring the judges after Musharraf approved their reinstatement.
A PPP minister who is a part of his party's negotiating team told the Dawn newspaper that the notification about the high court judges would be held in abeyance till the reinstatement of all deposed judges.
On hearing of the reinstatement of the high court judges by Musharraf, Sharif reportedly walked out of his meeting with PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari at the latter's residence on Wednesday and refused to return for parleys till the president's move was reversed.
Amidst high drama, PPP and PML-N leaders shuttled between Zardari's residence and Punjab House, where Sharif was closeted, till past midnight. With no word from the two parties as to what had transpired during their hectic consultations, the venue of the talks finally shifted to the prime minister's House.
Zardari, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and their close aides remained at the prime minister's house for a long time and thrashed out the differences between the two parties. Two leaders each of the PPP and PML-N then drafted a joint declaration that will be issued later on Thursday.
Reports said that the PML-N was not kept in the loop about the restoration of the deposed Sindh high court judges and this irked party leaders participating in the talks with the PPP.
Some reports also said Law Minister Farooq Naek had misled Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani [Images] on the issue of reinstating the eight judges by claiming that the PML-N's concurrence had been obtained for the move.
News about the proposal to re-appoint the deposed judges being sent to the president by the law ministry was apparently leaked by the presidency.
Musharraf also told leaders of the opposition PML-Q on Wednesday that he would continue to play his constitutional role and use his "constitutional powers" to block any move to impeach him.
Though the PMl-Q leaders did not give details, Musharraf was apparently referring to his powers under Article 58(2b) of the constitution that empower him to dissolve the parliament and dismiss an elected prime minister.
In a related development, Musharraf has cancelled his visit to China to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic [Images] Games. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will represesnt Pakistan at the opening ceremony.
Musharraf was scheduled to leave for Beijing [Images] at 0800 hours but official sources said he had deferred his departure till the evening. The president had abruptly cancelled his scheduled visit to China yesterday after it was reported that the PPP-led coalition was giving shape to a move to impeach him. The Foreign Office later announced that Musharraf had rescheduled his visit.
NDTV.com
Thursday, August 07, 2008, (New Delhi)
In hindsight, one could see it coming. When the Pakistan coalition returned to power in March this year, President Pervez Musharraf's foes Asif Ali Zardari and the man he ousted from power, Nawaz Sharif, were bound to get back to him sooner than later. So, the inevitable seems to be unfolding with Pakistan's two main ruling coalition partners asserting on Thursday that they have reached an "understanding" on impeaching President Pervez Musharraf and reinstating the judges sacked by him last year.
Interestingly enough, the date said to have been chosen by them is 11 August, Musharraf's birthday, which prompts us to recapitulate his extraordinary life.
Musharraf was born on August 11, 1943 in old Delhi s Daryaganj locality in a family of civil servants. The family migrated to Pakistan following India s partition. In 1964, Musharraf was commissioned in the Artillery Regiment of the Pakistan army. He went on to join a prestigious commando division and was trained in Royal College of Defence Studies in the UK.
Second Lieutenant Pervez Musharraf cut his teeth during Pakistan s 1965 war with India. By the time the 1971 debacle happened, he was Company Commander in the Special Service Group (SSG) commando battalion. However, it was not until 1999 that most Indians spotted him out. Army chief Musharraf was, of course, most infamously, the widely believed mastermind behind the Kargil war in the Himalayas.
Following a set historical pattern, Pakistan underwent a regime change the same year. Then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attempted to dismiss him but was outfoxed. With army s backing, General Musharraf staged a bloodless coup on October 12. He assumed the title of Chief Executive.
In June 2001, just before he visited India, Musharraf appointed himself the President of Pakistan. The talks failed, but the former commando hogged international limelight in post-9/11 world. He joined the international war against terror and for some time took Pakistan on the same comfort level with the US as was witnessed during the 1980s, when General Zia-ul-Haq reaped the harvest of superpower games in Afghanistan.
Domestically, the tide began turning against Musharraf even as his pro-America stand became increasingly unpopular. In order to legalize his presidency, Musharraf held a referendum on April 30, 2002 to extend his term to five years. He managed to win a vote of confidence consisting both houses of Parliament and the four provincial assemblies on January 1, 2004.
In March 2007 Musharraf sacked then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, triggering a crisis which began eroding his hold over the nation. In November, he got himself reelected as President but had to hang up his boots as the army chief.
June 2008 elections marked by the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto flung biggest challenge for Musharraf. Because, it brought his sworn enemy Nawaz Sharif closer to power. Sharif never made bones about his intentions to get even with him.
Now, it would seem that the day of reckoning has come for Musharraf.
President Musharraf is being impeached for using military force to solve political problems, so why not George Bush?
Pakistan has reached a watershed moment in its short history. For the first time in its six decades of existence, formal proceedings are in train to remove a sitting military head of state. In some respects, recent events reflect past experiences. The Pakistan supreme court has previously declared the Yahya Khan and Zia ul-Haq dictatorships illegal. On both occasions, however, the decisions occurred after the two men had relinquished power. The current decision to impeach Musharraf, should he fail a vote of confidence in the national assembly, is somewhat unprecedented. It is a shot in the arm for the rule of law in Pakistan.
At the same time as impeachment has been mooted in Pakistan, another, largely ignored one is being considered in the United States. Last month former presidential nominee, Dennis Kucinich, brought proceedings to impeach George Bush for orchestrating the invasion of Iraq. The Senate judiciary committee hearing his petition (pdf) did not allow Kucinich to use the 'I' word, however, and the hearing is symbolic at best.
But there remains an underlying logic to impeachment. Richard Nixon was almost impeached for clandestinely seeking to undermine his Democratic opponents (he resigned before he could be chucked out) and Bill Clinton was impeached for failing to disclose his sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky (the House of Representatives impeached him, but the Senate acquitted him, and he wasn't subsequently removed from office). It is therefore reasonable to query why impeachment proceedings against George Bush have only been countenanced so hesitantly and only now. Even at this juncture there is little support for the impeachment of George Bush from the Democrats or the media.
It's interesting to compare the impeachment efforts in Pakistan and the US, given their stark contrasts. Pakistan is a desperately poor, lower-tier power mired in years of corruption and a recent upsurge in violence instigated in part by elements of its own military intelligence. The US, in comparison, is the wealthiest, most powerful nation on the planet. Yet it too has been mired in political corruption and economic scandals. In their own ways, the countries share an alarming addiction to military corporatism. Both Pakistan under Musharraf and the US under Bush favour military solutions to political problems.
Nancy Pelosi, Democratic speaker of the house, opposes impeachment because "it would be divisive for the country". But, "if somebody had a crime that the president had committed," she mentioned flippantly on American television recently, "that would be a different story." Presumably the jury is out on Iraq until photos of Bush doing the thumbs-up at Abu Ghraib are unearthed. Barack Obama has decided to steer clear of the issue entirely. His stand could be excused on account of immediate political expediency. In one sense, he has very little to gain from supporting impeachment. John McCain would get free ammunition to line up Obama for the standard unpatriotic Democrat rhetoric.
Of course, all of this raises the question of what precisely politicians are meant to be doing if they always dodge politically risky issues. Just prior to gaining control of Congress in 2006, the Democrats raced to quash rumours that they would seek to impeach Bush. Pelosi argued, credibly, that such moves would only act as fodder for Republicans seeking to avoid likely defeat. "Making them lame ducks is good enough for me," Pelosi told the 60 Minutes programme. She repeated this argument in Time only last week.
Sadly, impeachment proceedings did not start after the Democratic takeover of Congress in 2006. What followed was a lame duck Democratic party consistently voting to support America's continued occupation of Iraq. It was left instead to Dennis Kucinich, the maverick congressman from Ohio, to launch independent proceedings against Bush and Dick Cheney. His efforts have been joined by a number of citizen activists that includes the man who prosecuted Charles Manson.
Since its election victory in February, Pakistan's coalition government has been chided by western observers for dithering in the face of a resurgent Taliban movement. It is true that the government's two major powerbrokers, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, have largely been more interested in turf wars than mounting a consistent policy platform. And yes, the impeachment proceedings are politically motivated. Ordinary Pakistanis are hurting as the cost of fuel and basic foodstuffs increases at an alarming rate (by a whopping 32% (pdf) in July alone). The coalition government has been blaming Musharraf for these ills. Impeachment gives Sharif and Zardari further ammunition to stave off an electorate with little faith in them.
But for whatever reasons, Pakistan's politicians have taken a calculated risk. If they fail it will only serve to validate Musharraf. That they decided to proceed regardless is something to celebrate. Democracies, let alone coalition governments in a country as volatile as Pakistan, are complex animals. The impeachment proceedings against Musharraf are proof that Pakistan's politicians can occasionally rise above their nation's traumas to seek accountability for a dictator who has been consistently supported by the west.
This article was amended at 12:40 on Friday August 8
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