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INTERNATIONAL

NIsar and Najam Sethi, had expected port of the convicted general, who told a elected prime minister of Pakistan.
that Imran Khan would be abiding by the group of Pakistani journalists in Dubai on The times have changed in Pakistan
instructions of the court, but he appears Friday, December 27, that he was going to too.Neither Musharraf nor Bajwa can
to have embarked upon the dangerous revamp his defunct political outfit, All rule Pakistan like Ayub Khan, who could
route of taming the judiciary. Instead of Pakistan Muslim League (APML).His sup- manipulate the polls and had ensured
issuing summons to Musharraf to return port to Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek- the defeat of Fatima Jinnha, the sister
to Pakistan, he appears to be wasting e-Insaf (PTI) was unconditional. APML’s of Muhammed Ali Jinnah. They cannot
time. Emboldened by his dilly dallying, support, though a weak political outfit, tame the judiciary.
the fugitive convicted Musharraf has may be welcomed by PTI. The PTI, though During the Ayub regime, the judici-
become emboldened and confidant to supported by the GHQ under Bajwa, ap- ary was totally subservient to the mili-
hold press conferences and give media pears to be losing its power-base in the tary dictator. The then chief justice of the
interviews. It appears, he was sick only country, especially in Punjab. Its support West Pakistan High Court, M.R. Kiyani,
for avoiding the court trials. may have some psychological value. had to apologize for his observations be-
Khan has suddenly received sup- It is true that there will be hardly any fore a legal gathering in Karachi, when he
told the audience, “There are quite a few
thousand men who would rather have
the freedom of speech than a new pair of
It goes to the credit of clothes and it is these who form a nation,
him an email on October 26, 2007, not the office hunters, the license hunt-
in which she stated, “if something General Musharraf that ers, even the tillers of soil and drawers
terrible happened to her, she would he was the first Mohajir or of water”. It irked the military authorities
hold Musharraf responsible apart that two days later, the chief justice was
from individuals Shah, now a minis- non-Punjabi, who could rule forced to apologize, because it was con-
ter in the Imran Khan government, the country for almost eight sidered to be an offence to the officers.
ex-ISI chief Hamid Gul, Chaudhry The coming months will be quite tu-
Pervaiz Elahi, presently speaker of years since the sudden exit multuous in Pakistan. Both Bajwa and
the Punjab Provincial Assembly and of Liaquat from the nation’s his crony Imran are keen to force the ju-
Arbab Ghulam Rahim, the then chief diciary to succumb to their pressure. The
minister of Sind. political horizon in 1951. present mood of the civil society in the
In 2009, an American journal- country despite the rampant corruption,
ist, Mark Siegel, had testified that He had toppled the then collapse of rule of law and crumbling
Musharraf had warned Bhutto about elected PM Nawaz Sharif economy, it is difficult for anyone to force
her safety and security on her return the Chief Justice of Pakistan and other
to Pakistan. judges to tender apology to the military
It was during one of her public ral- political impact of the APML on the po- establishment. It is being keenly watched
lies, leading up to the 2008 elections, litical fortune of Imran Khan. It had won the outcome of the review petition filed
that Bhutto was first attacked by ter- only one seat in the National Assembly by Attorney General Anwar Mansoor.
rorists who had planted two bombs with a total poll share of 54,231 (0.12 per The government has urged the apex
in the crowd. Bhutto survived that cent) in the 2013 elections, and its further court to form a larger bench to hear the
attack, which killed 149 people, but declined was witnessed in the 2018 elec- case and set aside the earlier judgment. It
in another rally two months later, tions, when the party polled only 36, 566 also requested the court to keep the pro-
on 27 December in Rawalpindi, her votes (0.07 per cent) without winning a ceedings in-camera. A three-member
car came under fire, before a suicide single seat in the House. apex court bench headed by then chief
bomber detonated nearby. Interestingly, Musharraf, a Mohajir, justice Asif Saeed Khosa on November
Former president and military has always tried to identify himself with 28 granted a six-month extension to Gen
ruler Musharraf is alleged to have the Punjabis. In this crisis-ridden evening Bajwa after being assured by the gov-
been part of a broad conspiracy to of his life, he should not have expected ernment that Parliament will pass the
have his political rival killed before much support. He has hardly any sup- necessary legislation on the extension or
elections. He has denied the allega- port base among the Mohajirs in Sind. reappointment of an army chief within
tion, but has been evading his trial. The Sindhis never identify themselves six months. The general practice is to dis-
He was charged with murder, with the Pakistani army and Mohajrs. miss such review petitions summarily,
criminal conspiracy for murder, and With the assassination of Benazir, but it may witness a high-voltage judicial
facilitation of murder in 2013. Musharraf too is a much-hated general proceedings in the neighboring country.
like Zia-u-Haq, who had manipulated a
judicial hanging of Z.A. Bhutto, the first LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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