After seizing power in a coup in 1999, General Pervez Musharraf became one of Pakistan’s longest-serving rulers. He remained in office until 2008 when his supporters were defeated in parliamentary elections. Under threat of impeachment, he left the country.



The 69 –year old former military President dramatically returned to Pakistan on 24th March to contest election and his return added one more dangerous dynamic to Pakistan’s already combustible politics.



On 18th April, the High Court at Islamabad cancelled his bail extension and ordered his arrest. Television pictures showed. Musharraf striding out of the courtroom and into his waiting black SUV, which then sped out of the gates of the Islamabad High Court.



Armed paramilitary soldiers, provided by the government for his protection, with riot shields guarded his path from the courtroom to the vehicle, which then raced to Musharraf’s mansion on the outskirts of Islamabad. There, a large contingent of riot police appeared and cordoned off the area.



Musharraf appeared before a magistrate’s court early 19th April morning, with a heavy police and paramilitary escort, where he gave himself up to the law. The judicial magistrate ordered his detention over his attempt to impose house arrest on judges in March 2007 and the farmhouse was declared sub-jail as police told the court that Musharraf’s life was in danger which was why his farmhouse residence should be declared a sub-jail.



The case for which he has been arrested relates to his controversial decision to dismiss 60 judges – including Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhry – when he imposed emergency rule on November 3, 2007.



The Court observed that the list of charges against Musharraf in the judges’ detention case entailed terrorism clauses which were why bail could not be granted to the retired general without him surrendering to authorities. He appeared before the Special Anti-Terrorist Court on April 20 and the court sent him on judicial remand for two weeks as urged by his lawyers because the case could be heard by higher courts.



In a statement, Musharraf criticized the charges as “politically motivated” and vowed to fight them in court “where the truth will eventually prevail.”



Earlier this week, Musharraf told a news conference that he was prepared to go to prison. “Whatever decisions I made, I did it for Pakistan,” he said. However few believe the military would allow a former army chief to be thrown in jail or assassinated by militants as the military remains a powerful and feared institution in the country.



Ahmad Raza Khan Qasuri, his lawyer warned that the trial of General. Musharraf would open a “Pandora’s box,” which would ensnare other senior military leaders who supported his actions. A Musharraf aide, Raza Bokhari, said in a statement that the court ruling was “unprecedented” and “motivated by personal vendettas”.



Impact on his arrest



In a country ruled by the army for almost half of its history and where no dictator has ever been arrested, the high court action may raise tensions between two of Pakistan’s power centers – the army and the judiciary – weeks before general elections scheduled for May 11.



When he ruled Pakistan, from 1999 to 2008, Musharraf’s regime clashed with the judiciary over the levers of administration, a confrontation that continues to haunt the succeeding democratic government.



“The decision will adversely affect the judiciary-military relationship,” Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a Lahore-based analyst, said in a phone interview. “The military will not like it.” Musharraf’s home in the capital could be declared a “sub-jail” for a period of house arrest, he said.



He has been already embroiled in a series of legal battles. He is facing a number of charges related to his time in office with court proceedings over the killing of Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and a tribal leader Akbar Bugti from Balochistan.



Analysts say it has been a big political miscalculation of Musharraf to return to Pakistan and run the election, given the background that he took power through a coup in 1999 and continued his authoritarian rule until 2008.



Either Musharraf did not foresee the difficulties he would face in Pakistan because of his unconstitutional action or his advisers have misled him about the legal battles he would face in the country on return. Furthermore he was too confident about his popularity in the country and he seems to have misjudged it.



He probably did not think that Pakistan has changed and majority of his countrymen and women does not like him because of his authoritarian rule for nine years after usurping power from the then civilian elected government in 1999.



Whenever military claims to take over power in the “national interest”, they are found to leave the country a step backward. The Pakistani armed forces realise this fact and have no appetite to run the country.



General Musharraf’s predicament must be music to the ears of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif whom Musharraf ousted from power in 1999.



Election under a care-taker government



The PPP led government completed its five year term on 16th March and Pakistan’s parliament was dissolved and the interim administration led by former chief justice of Balochistan, Justice Mir Hazar Khan Khoso assumed his office on 24th March.



General elections are scheduled on May 11. The main opposition party, Pakistan Muslim League-N, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has supported the civilian government and is no friend of the army. His party and one led by former Pakistani cricket star Imran Khan will present the greatest challenge to the PPP in the coming election.



It is reported that the size of the floating vote is about 18% and it means any party that captures their imagination can win their votes.

Musharraf barred from election

Musharraf submitted papers to contest the poll from Karachi, Islamabad, Kasur and Chitral. His nomination papers from three of the districts were rejected in an initial review by the national election commission, as officials concluded that he had subverted the constitution when he took power in a coup in 1999 and was therefore ineligible to run. However he was allowed to run from Chitral.

His opponents later filed an appeal against the decision to approve his candidacy in Chitral on the grounds that he had violated Pakistan’s constitution when he imposed emergency rule in 2007.

On 16th April, a high court tribunal disqualified General Pervez Musharraf, from taking part in coming national elections, dashing his hopes of rejoining Pakistani politics. It must have been a bad day for former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Mr. Qasuri, a lawyer for Musharraf and a senior official of his party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, expressed disappointment over the disqualification. He said Musharraf planned to appeal to the Supreme Court.

“Our spirits are very high,” Qasuri said. “I am with him, and the party leadership has decided that we are going to fight a legal battle.” He acknowledged, however, that Musharraf’s chances of winning on appeal were slim. It is noted that the Supreme Court is headed by a judge he unsuccessfully tried to sack when he was president.

Self-imposed exile of Musharraf

At the end of March, Musharraf ended a four-year self-imposed exile and returned to Pakistan. His party All Pakistan Muslim League lacks any substantial presence in the country’s volatile political landscape. Only a small crowd greeted Musharraf after he landed in Karachi, and Musharraf has struggled to find electable political candidates for his party.

During his time in exile, he is believed to have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars on worldwide lecture tours. But he has never made any secret that his main ambition was to return to power in his homeland.

He has already been barred from leaving the country, and is also a target for the Pakistani Taliban. His future appears increasingly bleak.

Brief profile of Musharraf

Born on 11 August 1943, Delhi, India. The Delhi-born son of an Urdu-speaking family migrated to Pakistan after the partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947. He joined the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961. He saw action in the 1965 war against India. He attended Royal College of Defence Studies in the UK.

Frequently promoted, he was made a General and Army Chief of Staff in 1998 by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif superseding many senior Generals of the army because Sharif saw no threat from him as he migrated from India and had no power base in the army. However this assessment turned out to be totally wrong when General Musharraf staged a coup against Sharif and sent him packing to Saudi Arabia after imprisonment.

Pervez Musharraf survived numerous assassination attempts and plots against him during his time in power. Musharraf is married with two children.

Barrister Harun ur Rashid, Former, Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN, Geneva