The Father, The Son, The Pakistani

(Faisal Shah, Lahore)

The Father, The Son, The Pakistani

Pervez Musharraf, a man who has dedicated over 50 years serving his country. A father, a son, a soldier, The Former Chief of Army Staff, Former Army General, The Former President of Pakistan and the current Quaid of the All Pakistan Muslim League, these are all titles given to Pervez Musharraf. In recent weeks he has been given other titles including a murderee, a traitor (gaddaar) and a coward!!

So how true are all these titles?

A Father, A Son
A father he is ma sha Allah, Pervez Musharraf is father to Bilal and Ayla Musharraf. A son he is and at current his mother is in a very ill state, I pray for her well being and hope she gets better in sha Allah.

A Soldier
Pervez Musharraf served as a soldier for the Pakistan Army from 1961, he fought in several wars for Pakistan and received some of the highest recognition medals for his services for Pakistan.

Former Chief of Army Staff
Former Chief of Army Staff he was from 6th October 1998 to 28th November 2007, he was selected by the then government headed by Nawaz Sharif. Pervez Musharraf was recommended by Shahbaz Sharif and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif personally promoted Musharraf to the rank of four-star general.

A General
In 1991 to 1993, Pervez Musharrad secured a two-star promotion, elevating him to the rank of major general stationed in Okara Military District in Punjab Province.

Former President
In 1999 Pervez Musharraf became the 10th president of Pakistan, after a bloodless military coup which was triggered by corruption and failure of the Nawaz Sharif government at that time.

Pakistan's Supreme Court had ruled that The October 1999 military coup was legal and set a three-year deadline on a return to civilian rule.
The unanimous opinion of the 12-member court was that the overthrow of the government had been justified because of corrupt and ineffective ''one-man rule'' by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Pervez Musharraf was the first military president to accept the rulings of the Supreme Court and holding free and fair elections in 2002 in his vision to return the democracy in the country. In October 2002, Pakistan held general elections which the pro-Musharraf PML-Q won wide margins, although it had failed to gain absolute majority. The PML-Q formed government with far-right religious parties coalition, the MMA and the liberals MQM; the coalition legitimised Musharraf's rule.

Quaid of the APML
Pervez Musharraf returned to politics in June 2010 by announcing the launch of his party the All Pakistan Muslim League, it was later announced in October 2010 that Pervez Musharraf would be the official President of the party.

Baring in mind that Pervez Musharraf has had several other exceptional titles, above are just some of the titles he has held and reasoning for them.

Recently due to several politicised cases being put forward by the current government and being upheld by the judiciary in Pakistan several people have called Pervez Musharraf other titles including a murderer (with regards to the deaths of Benazir Bhutto,Akbar Bugti and Lal Masjid case) a gaddaar (with regards to the Article 6 case) and a coward (with regards to being unable to turn up to court).

So in turn how true are any of these titles?

A murderer
On 27th December 2007 Benazir Bhutto was murdered after addressing a rally in Liaquat Bhag (the same place where Liaquat Ali Khan one of the former prime ministers of Pakistan was murdered).
The blame of this murder by members of the Pakistan Peoples Party was placed on Pervez Musharraf or was it? While speaking on the CNN show "The Situation Room" Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made a comment with regards to Pervez Musharraf saying "he murdered my mother," to which Wolf Blitzer shockingly yet confused replied "what? You'd go that far ? The reasoning Bilawal gave was that 'inadequate security' was provided for Benazir Bhutto at the time. This was reiterated by Sharmila Farooqui PPP member and former Chief Minister of Sindh on ARY News show Off The Record 25th March 2013, while speaking in context to Pervez Musharraf, Sharmila Farooqui said "we know how to deal with a murderer."

All of this was said even though 'The UN concluded that Benazir was probably killed by Al Qaeda and its Pakistani Taliban allies who recruited the 15-year-old suicide bomber. An Al Qaeda spokesman claimed credit for the murder saying “we have terminated the most precious American asset” in Pakistan. The UN investigators point a particular finger at the notorious Al Qaeda operative, Ilyas Kashmiri, as the possible mastermind. In November 2011 a court indicted two police officers and five alleged Taliban militants over Benazir Bhutto's death.

The only possible blame that was being placed on Pervez Musharraf was that his government failed to provide adequate security! Baring this in mind it must be mentioned that Pervez Musharraf had warned Benazir of the possible dangers of addressing a rally in Liaquat Bhag. The federal government had also made Benazir Bhutto, her security teams and provincial governments aware of the threats, they had provided her with necessary equipment and security for her rally.

Looking at all of this from an objective view it strikes a question, how is the government blaming Pervez Musharraf for murder when initially they are at the same time blaming militants? If it is militants then how was Pervez Musharraf the lead suspect? Due to these unanswered questions, the lack of logic or legal basis plus no evidence Pervez Musharraf was granted bail in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

This is the same reason that he was also bailed in the Akbar Bugti murder case and the Lal Masjid case as there was physically no evidence supporting any of the circumstances against Pervez a Musharraf!!

A Coward
As stupid as it may sound calling a man who fought at the frontline of several wars of your country, a man who in circumstances of complete victimisation and biasness still returned to his home country to fight against the injustices and face the cases that were facing him. To call that man a coward you would need immense amounts of evidence to support this, especially when the party that you belong to is notorious for corruption. Also a point to be noted is that at that Benazir Bhutto only returned to Pakistan after she broke a deal some foreign allies who had persuaded the government of that time. Pervez Musharraf was called a coward as he was taken to hospital whilst going to the court for his treason case hearing. Suffering from problems relating to his heart which was later verified by doctors and recently by minister Ch Nisar, he was admitted to hospital.

Bilawal tweeted "I can't believe this coward ever wore the uniform of our brave and courageous armed forces."

He later tweeted again in order to what seemed a retraction on his earlier tweet "Political differences aside.Musharraf deserves fair trial not media trial or twitter trial.Test 4 democracy&judiciary. advise he faces court."

Although Bilawal seems to forget that his father Asif Ali Zardari was certified as "mad" by several institutions on the planet which had certified that he was exempt from appearing in court!! Pervez Musharraf's medical report suggested that 'he was suffering from blockage of his arteries and a vertebra problem.' A copy of the report seen by The Associated Press said Musharraf came to the hospital with "uneasiness in the chest, sweating and discomfort in the left arm." The report said Musharraf suffered from "Triple Vessel Coronary Artery Disease" this was a serious and yet sensitive situation for Pervez Musharraf baring in mind his father had died from coronary artery disease. Serious and sensitive not cowardly. This also highlighted that some seem to forget that Pervez Musharraf is still a human being like the rest of us and is still able to get ill.

A gaddaar (traitor)
By far the stupidest name to call Pervez Musharraf as even agreed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who stated “Pervez Musharraf is not a traitor."

Pervez Musharraf was called a traitor due to the 2007 emergency in the country. Chaudhry Shujaat reiterated saying “To call our own army chief who led the army for years a traitor is an insult,” he said. “Politicians have contested the elections under this so-called traitor and many of you even took oath as ministers from the same traitor,” he said, addressing the PML-N lawmakers who had joined former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani’s first cabinet as ministers."

It comes as no surprise that a poor performing government that is unable to deal with the problems at hand attempts to divert the attention of the population by starting court proceedings against Pervez Musharraf. Also if Pervez Musharraf is a gaddaar based on the 2007 Emergency, he was not alone in this in fact chief ministers of each province, parliament and members of the judiciary all validated and agreed with the 2007 Emergency.

'On 15 Feb 2008, a detailed Supreme Court judgement came, following its earlier short pronouncement of 24 November 2007, validating the proclamation of emergency of 3rd Nov 2007, PCO 2007 and oath of the judges. This full court judgment was written by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.'

Altaf Hussain of the MQM party said that those who were holding Musharraf responsible for the emergency rule and wanted him to be hanged to death were unfair and unjust in their demand.

Clearly this should all put into perspective what titles are just for Pervez Musharraf although I'm my eyes he has several titles in fact do many that his name would consist of a paragraph of titles as he has done that much for the country, he had got to be the most courageous and brave men that we have had the pleasure of seeing as our president, in sha Allah the day will come again when Pervez Musharraf is titled a President Pervez Musharraf.

Faisal Shah
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