Musharraf resigns: Washington says farewell to one of its favorite despots

“Thank God this one-man show, which was behind all the major scandals of the past nine years, is over[!].”

So “exclaimed a jubilant citizen” in Pakistan yesterday after watching the nation’s U.S.-backed dictator-president, Pervez Musharraf, announce his resignation in a televised speech that lasted more than an hour. (How long does it say, “I failed you. I’m a loser. I violated the national constitution with impunity. Now I’m outta here.”?)

Mian Khursheed/Reuters

Yesterday, Pakistan’s U.S.-backed, dictator-president, Pervez Musharraf, left the presidential residence in Islamabad after delivering his televised resignation speech

A news article in Pakistan’s Daily Times notes: “People, for the most part, welcomed Musharraf’s decision to step down after nine years as chief executive….” Simultaneously, the longtime military man had held the army’s top post but he stepped down from that job several months ago. “However, the public was also aware of the fact that his resignation will lead to a tough period for the nation. It seemed that the masses were expecting such an announcement, with dozens of television shops in Saddar packed with people eager to witness what turned out to be Musharraf’s final speech. The actual announcement led to scenes of exhilaration, with people congratulating each other and a few shopkeepers…distributing sweets.”

A Pakistani lawyer, a member of a professional sector that had sharply criticized Musharraf’s law-ignoring rule, said: “Although it is unlikely his resignation will bring any major improvements in the political scenario or ease the public’s sufferings, we are hoping against hope that the coalition government will work to alleviate the misery of the masses….” A shopkeeper told a reporter: “…I am delighted that we have been relieved of this dictator who, with the support of the U.S., imposed unlawful policies in the country for nine years….” (All citations above from Daily Times)

Akram Shahid/Reuters

Supporters of the Pakistan People’s Party ate sweets and held photos of their party’s former leader, the assassinated politician Benazir Bhutto, after learning that Musharraf had resigned; the PPP holds the leading position in Pakistan’s current coalition government

A separate news article in the Daily Times explains that Musharraf resigned “to avoid an impending impeachment, ending a weeks-long political standoff and bringing the curtain down on eight years and ten months of turbulent rule….Musharraf said he had made the decision to avoid confrontation between state institutions that could make a military intervention possible. ‘After viewing the situation and consulting legal advisers and political allies, with their advice, I have decided to resign today,’ he said….He said he was ready to face impeachment, but [that] the process would create tension among the parliament, the judiciary and the presidency.” (In fact, Musharraf’s law-abusing, dictatorial actions already had stirred up such tensions, especially after he sacked the nation’s top judge early this year.) In his resignation address, Musharraf said: “It is not a time for individual bravado. To me, Pakistan was always first, it remains so and will always be first.”

The Times of India reports that Musharraf “overstayed his welcome, partly because he believed the political coalition [that has governed Pakistan since last February's elections] was fragile and would crack soon” and “partly because the U.S., particularly Vice President Dick Cheney, was loath to let him go….” The controversial dictator also “thought that [the Bush gang's backing] would keep him” in power and partly he also “believed he could play out a final tactical victory in the fluid situation between the army, [Pakistani] politicians and the Taliban.” However, the Times of India notes, “None of that happened.” Now, with Musharraf “finally gone,” the Indian daily adds, Pakistan’s “civilian government should be able to concentrate on…two main tasks: fixing the economy and crafting a strategy against the Taliban, ultimately finding a better way of arresting the ‘Talibanization’ of Pakistan.”

Asim Tanveer/Reuters

Last Sunday in Multan, Pakistan, supporters of the Islamist party Shahbab-e-Milli protested against Musharraf; one of their signs said: “Musharraf is a nightmare.”

Right now, Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of the former Pakistan People’s Party leader Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated last December, is considered to be “the most powerful political figure” in the country. He serves as co-chairman of the PPP, which is playing the leading role in Pakistan’s current coalition government. Nawaz Sharif, who twice served as prime minister in the past, “is another leader influencing Pakistani politics” today. He heads the conservative Pakistan Muslim League (N). It was Sharif who was ousted from power by Musharraf in a military coup in October 1999, at which time the power-grabber was serving as the chief of staff of Pakistan’s army. Sahrif went into exile in Saudia Arabia. He came back to his homeland last November and went on to lead his party in the February 2008 elections, as a result of which the PML(N) “achieved sweeping gains to become the second-largest group in [Pakistan's national] parliament.” (Times)

In the current coalition government, Zardari and Sharif find themselves “in a marriage” that was “not made in Heaven,” the Times of India points out, adding: “[T]heir next test will come in the coming weeks, when the election to the president’s post is decided.” (Musharraf’s succesor will be chosen by the national parliament.) “Bilawal Bhutto, [chairman] of the PPP, has already staked his party’s claim to the post. What kind of a presidency would it be? Would Sharif get his way and strip the presidency of its power to dissolve parliament? None of this is clear.” The Indian paper quotes an associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank, who observed that the “PPP could lose ground because they did support General Musharraf” at one point, before Benazir Bhutto was killed and when she was seeking to become prime minister; at that time, the PPP had hinted that it would be willing to work with Musharraf’s regime. Also, the Indian paper notes, if Musharraf’s old political party, the PML(Q), decides “to go back to Sharif’s PML(N), that would give Sharif a huge advantage” in the parliamentary jockeying for the presidency that is to come. Also, what will become of Pakistan’s Supreme Court and its judges, whom Musharraf had ousted? And what about Pakistan’s role in the so-called war on terror? “[R]ecent visitors to Pakistan have felt that, while the war [against the] Taliban may be [a] priority in the rest of the world, it was not really so inside the Pakistan establishment” under Musharraf’s rule.

Asim Tanveer/Reuters

Yesterday in Multan, Pakistan, female supporters of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) party shared sweets and celebrated the news of Musharraf’s resignation

What will become of Musharraf? Where will he go? In his resignation speech, he said: “I leave my future to the people of Pakistan. Let them be the judges and let them do the justice.” The Daily Times notes that he “did not say whether he would stay in Pakistan.”

Could that be because, “after nine years in one of the world’s most dangerous political jobs, he and his family must soon return to a civilian world teeming with politicians, separatists and Islamists who would like to see him jailed or dead”? (Times)

Britain’s Times reports: “His own choice would be to stay in a house that he is building on his five-acre farm on the outskirts of Islamabad. But he risks prosecution by his political enemies if he stays in Pakistan – a risk that will increase if the government reinstates the judges he dismissed last year. He would also be a certain target for the Islamic militants who have already made three attempts on his life….As president, he was protected by a relatively well-trained army….Now he [will be] entitled to protection only by the police, whose shortcomings were exposed by Benazir Bhutto’s assassination last year. If the government does not grant him military protection, as well as immunity from prosecution, he will probably be forced overseas….[D]iplomatic sources say…he is unlikely to move to Britain, not least because of the security threats from al-Qaeda and the Taliban.”

Asim Tanveer/Reuters

Yesterday in Multan, Pakistan, lawyers protested against Musharraf; one held a sign that said: “Hang Musharraf. Save Pakistan.”

The Times‘ news report adds: “Musharraf spent some of his childhood in Turkey and speaks Turkish, but diplomats say Ankara is also reluctant to take on the security risk” of allowing him to settle in Turkey. “Another suggestion is [that he might move to] the United States, where his son, Bilal, works.” However, this past Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that an asylum offer from the Bush gang to its erstwhile, generously funded, democracy-crushing pal was “not on the table.”

Posted By: Edward M. Gomez (Email) |
August 19 2008 at 08:17 AM