‘Musharraf’s treason trial’

This is apropos a Business Recorder editorial “Musharraf’s treason trial” carried by the newspaper yesterday. The newspaper argued, among other things, that “[M]ilitary dictators in our history have never been brought to justice for their heinous crime of violating the Constitution through overthrowing civilian governments and perpetuating their rule until one or the other set of circumstances forced them out. Our first dictator Field Marshal Ayub Khan was ousted as a result of a countrywide agitation for many months in 1968-69 that brought army chief Gen Yahya Khan to power in his stead. Yahya fell after the East Pakistan debacle but was only declared a usurper by the Supreme Court after he had left office. General Ziaul Haq was killed in an air crash while still in power. Now Musharraf has been playing ducks and drakes with the justice system to avoid paying the potential penalty for violating the Constitution. Pakistan still awaits a violator of the constitution being brought to justice, but don’t hold your breath”.

The story of Musharraf’s is quite different from the other military dictators’. Although Yahya, for example, was declared by Supreme Court of Pakistan as a usurper who had no authority to abrogate the 1962 constitution and impose martial law months after he left office, he was never tried for committing treason!

Islamabad Sher Khan