The lonely but risk taking General Musharraf came back to Pakistan with the hope to see his million Facebook fans taking him to the parliament. But the poor chap instead is bracing up for a trial on account of his unconstitutional act of imposing emergency on November 3, 2007.
PM Nawaz Sharif ordered yesterday to initiate treason case against Musharraf. The rivalry between the two dates back to October 1999 when the latter sacked the formers government. The history is now close to repeating itself. Unlike his bad timing in 1999 when he tried to oust the General, Sharifs timing this time around seems just right.
Now the seasoned politician is back in power and apparently playing his cards right. COAS Kayani was amongst Musharrafs Generals signatories team in November 7. With his retirement in November 13, General Kayani is likely to be irrelevant. Plus, unlike October 1999, this time its too early for the army to jolt the just-formed government.
Further, Sharif is likely to have support of the Supreme Court and the vigilant media, both of whom have been Musharrafs victim one way or the other. Had Nawaz questioned him on October 1999, the case would not have been this strong - as the act was validated by the then Supreme Court and parliament.
But in November 7, the parliament was not with the ex-president. Although then Chief Justice Dogar was with Musharrafs decision, Supreme Court has been apparently reformed since then.
At one end, some of media tycoons and experts are in favour of the trial, and on the other they are skeptical that the personal clash between Nawaz and Musharraf may be behind the trial. The questions arise as to why the persecution is only against Musharraf and why not against other Generals too who signed the emergency imposed on 3rd November 7.
The threat of November 07 case, also risks the fate of General Kayani and other currently serving Generals who were part of the decision then. If these generals are also tried for treason, then it may cause serious rifts between the army and the government.
This whole conundrum is creating uncertain clouds over the political landscape. The stock market responded it with a sharp slide yesterday. The business community which requires political stability to bring investment into the economy is cautiously watching the drama unfold. Lets see how the things shape up when the dust settles.