SC judgment wiped out any imaginary deal with Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: A landmark Supreme Court ruling that declared General (R) Pervez Musharraf as violator of the Constitution had wiped out the unimplemented parts, if any, of the “deal” which the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) government had worked out for his safe exit prior to his resignation as president in 2008.

All the judges of the apex court, sitting in one panel, handed down a historic judgment on July 31, 2009, which found the state of emergency imposed by Musharraf on November 3, 2007 as violative of the Constitution. It prescribed the former dictator’s trial for high treason under article 6 for suspending the Constitution in his capacity as the Chief of the Army Staff.

Under the deal that former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has talked about, Musharraf was given graceful exit out of the presidential office with an unusual guard of honour amid vociferous taunts and boos by different opposition parties.

This happened in August 2008 a few months after Gilani had assumed office of the prime minister and Asif Zardari was yet to be elected as the president. By virtue of his office, Gilani was mainly involved in talks with the establishment on Musharraf’s fate.

However, senior PPP leader Jehangir Badr has quickly contradicted him saying that the PPP had not signed any deal with Musharraf.

“Zardari had given two choices to General Ashfaque Parvaz Kayani that either Musharraf should resign or be prepared for impeachment,” he said.

What weight and worth Gilani’s assertions may carry when they have been denied by a senior party stalwart, who enjoys the confidence of the top PPP leaders including Zardari and Bilawal.

However, at the time there was an unwritten understanding between the PPP and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that they would mutually decide about their joint presidential candidate after Musharraf’s ouster. But the PML-N was stunned when Zardari put himself up as the contestant without consulting it. This created bad blood at the very outset. Not only the previous government gave Musharraf safe exit as per the deal but it also kept dragging its feet on enforcing the Supreme Court decision to try him for high treason for nearly four years till March 2013 when its term exhausted. He traveled out of Pakistan without any hindrance by the government.

He comfortably lived in and out of Pakistan, but he decided to return to Pakistan last year to contest the general elections. After that, his woes intensified and he is in deep trouble since then.

Whatever the deal, it was swept away by the PPP’s massive electoral defeat and PML-N’s convincing triumph.

In the meantime, while holding hearing on the case of implementation of its July 2009 judgment, the Supreme Court finally asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to arraign Musharraf on high treason charges or face contempt proceedings in the last quarter of the previous year. As a result, he was left with no choice but to order the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to probe the matter. Then, the case was filed with the special court, which will decide Musharraf’s fate.

“The responsibility of decision about the treason case is on the court; the judiciary is free,” Information Minister Senator Parvaiz Rashid says. “The complainant in Musharraf’s case is the State and not the government. It is up to the judiciary to decide if the steps taken on November 3 by Musharraf constitute a violation of article 6 or not.

If everyone is equal, then every citizen is answerable before the court of law.”

The Nawaz Sharif government denies that the PML-N was part of any deal that the PPP signed with the establishment on Musharraf in 2008.

If there is such an agreement, Musharraf should present it in court, Parvaiz Rashid stresses.

Gilani was right when he said that Musharraf stepped down after striking a deal that he would be given a safe exit. On his resignation, Musharraf was allowed such exit from Pakistan. However, Gilani slipped when he stated that after signing a deal with the establishment, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should not have violated it. Where is that accord?

“The establishment had also taken Nawaz Sharif into confidence at the time of striking the deal for Musharraf’s safe exit. At the time of the Bhurban Accord, when the issue of impeachment of Musharraf came up, the establishment contacted me as well as Nawaz Sharif and it was agreed that Musharraf would be provided a safe exit from Pakistan if he stepped down from the Presidency,” Gilani said.