Mumbai:
It is the curse of the 4C’s – Coup, Corruption, Crime and Country hopping that no Pakistani Prime Minister or any Military dictators has ever been able to escape its wrath. The Tuesday verdict of a special court in Pakistan that sentenced former Pakistani President and Military Dictator Major General Pervez Musharraf to death in a 2013 case in which he was accused of high treason and subverting the constitution of Pakistan, only underscored the fear that rulers of Pakistan harbor in their minds when they assume any high office.
He could well might be the second military dictator after late Major General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq to fall for another curse of sorts – that of the Bhutto family. Zia-ul-Haq died 11 years later in a mysterious plane crash in Bahawalpur, Pakistan on August 17, 1988. Exactly 11 years earlier, he had deposed then Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a mid-night coup of July 4, 1977. Two years later Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged to death in Central Jail in Rawalpindi on April 4, 1979.
Pervez Musharraf was at the fag end of his infamous military regime when on December 27, 2007, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while addressing a rally in Rawalpindi. Musharraf did not remain in office for too long as he quit office in 2008 to avoid being impeached. Today again the ghost of another Bhutto haunts a former Pakistani military dictator. After leaving Pakistan for medical treatment abroad in 2016, the 76 year old former Pakistani General has never returned back to face trial in the case.
All the five charges leveled against Musharraf arise from his Proclamation of Emergency on November 3, 2007 and keeping the Pakistani constitution under abeyance. The other charges against Musharraf include – unconstitutionally and unlawfully passing provincial order empowering the President (himself) with sweeping powers, introducing Oath of Office (Judges) order in 2007 which made judges to abide by provisions of proclamation of emergency and perform acts and functions accordingly, he used it to remove Pak SC CJI Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, he amended many articles of the constitution and removed some amendments.
Soon after he imposed State of Emergency in Pakistan in 2007, Musharraf began facing stiff opposition to his regime. Under the Emergency, all civil liberties, human rights and all democratic processes were suspended between November 2007 and February 2008.
The biggest constitutional coup that Gen Musharraf wanted to do for himself was that he wanted to hold two offices at the same time – first being chief of army staff and another being the President of Pakistan. The Pakistani establishment did not like that idea, hence before facing potential impeachment, Musharraf stepped down in 2008. In the national elections later, the political outfit he had floated fared badly and that hastened his exit from power and later on from Pakistan itself.
This is not the first time that any Pakistani, Politician, Prime Minister or a Military dictator has not faced any assassination attempt on his or her life – Altaf Hussain 1991, Asif Ali Zardari (Benazir Bhutto’s husband) 1999 and Nawaz Sharif 1999, Pervez Musharraf 2003. Pakistan has witnessed four Coup’s since its formation in 1947 – first coup was in 1953-54 by Governor General Ghulam Muhammad, in 1958 by Major Gen Iskander Mirza who was sent into exile within 13 days by Gen Ayub Khan who he had appointed as chief martial law administrator
On the mid-night of July 4, 1977 then chief of army staff Major Gen Zia-ul-Haq launched Coup named “Operation Fair Play” to topple Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government. The last successful coup was launched by Gen Musharraf in 1999 in which he ousted then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from office. Sharif had tried to stop the plane carrying Musharraf coming from Sri Lanka to land in Pakistan. Besides these there were several unsuccessful coup bids notably against Gen Zia on March 23, 1980.
Like most of his predecessors Pervez Musharraf has never returned back to Pakistan since 2016. Other Pakistani leaders, prime ministers and generals who have been country hopping include – Altaf Hussain in United Kingdom since 2002, Asif Ali Zardari lived in Dubai, London and New York in 2004, Nawaz Sharif in 2000 and 2007, Benazir Bhutto in Dubai in 1998 and 2007 and Pervez Musharraf in 2008.
Perhaps, Gen Musharraf may have the dubious distinction of incurring the wrath of the curse of the 4C’s. His name figures also in the list of former Pakistani rulers who have faced corruption charges – Asif Ali Zardari 1990 and 1996, Nawaz Sharif 1999 and 2018, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani 2012 and Pervez Musharraf also in 2012. Another dubious distinction that Musharraf had to endure was that he was stripped of his Pakistani citizenship also.
