Is Pervez Musharraf really a traitor?

Who else is not?

A serious trial for treason

The differentiating question this time is that is Pervez Musharraf an accused alone? No, interestingly he is not! The sitting Prime Minister, his entire cabinet and all those who helped him to become the Prime Minister of the country for the third time are also equally guilty of the violation of the article 6 of the constitution of Pakistan! Are they really? How?

2014

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ZHK 4/17/2014

A serious trial for treason: Is Pervez Musharraf really a traitor? Who else is not?

By: Zahid Hussain Khalid

This is obviously the most talked about and debated question within Pakistan and among Pakistani

immigrants abroad. The nature of the debate is no doubt too serious for the reason that a person who

was an ex-army chief, former Chief Executive and then President of the country is now facing a trial for

treason!

What did he do? He allegedly violated Article 6 of the constitution! The alleged accused will need to

satisfactorily answer only one question: Why did he do that? Does anyone expect a convincing answer

from him?

The answer based on reported conflicting opinions and analyses is either affirmative or negative. The

affirmative answer is an endorsement of Pervez Musharraf’s argument that he was not the only one

responsible for setting aside the constitutional provisions to impose emergency and the chain of actions

and re-actions that followed. Historically, it’s a fact! Article 6 of the constitution was never violated by a

single person without a reason that did not provide a satisfactory justification for “riding” on the “law of

necessity” to land in Islamabad’s Capitol Hill. By going through an established historical perspective and

a series of verdicts based on the consideration of the reasons for the violation of the Article 6 one can

hardly find any justifiable reason to doubt the intentions of those who were apparently guilty of treason.

But all of them not only got away with it, they enjoyed long periods of staying in power too with the full

support of the leaders of the political parties, the judiciary, the bureaucracy, the media, the “friends” of

democracy, and on top of them all – The people! So how to analyze the emerging scenario in a situation

like this.

The differentiating question this time is that is Pervez Musharraf an accused alone? No, interestingly he

is not! The sitting Prime Minister, his entire cabinet and all those who helped him to become the Prime

Minister of the country for the third time are also equally guilty of the violation of the article 6 of the

constitution of Pakistan! Are they really? How?

Can Nawaz Sharif and his party members and his supporter justify the amendment in the constitution of

Pakistan for helping Nawaz Sharif to become Prime Minister of Pakistan for the third time? He himself

did not violate the constitution and its article 6. The leaders and members of the political parties across

the board did! Why they are not accused for the crime they have evidently committed with

questionable intentions and dozens of objectionable reasons? They cannot be accused for the crime

because their alleged act of treason was not only justified by the provisions of the so-called “Charter of

Democracy” signed by leaders of almost all major political parties it was “constitutionalized” through a

democratic process also!

The question is: was such a provision of the Charter of Democracy “intentional violation” of the

constitution and its Article 6 or not? In whose interest was the amendment made and for what reason?

Was there an emergency? Were there only two political leaders in a country of more than 180 million

people capable of ruling Pakistan?

The answers lead to an interesting conclusion and the conclusion is that politics in Pakistan, as

elsewhere in the world, has become a part-time hobby of those feudal lords, industrial tycoons and

heads of different mafias who join politics for acquiring authority, increasing power, accumulating

wealth and amending laws and constitution to serve their business interests. If the conclusion is right

then only Pervez Musharraf is not a traitor, a few more names will have to be added to the list of

traitors for trial to determine who did what to Pakistan and why?