Pervez Musharraf- The forgotten man!

In the mid of rigging complains, best wishes and expectations from Nawaz Sharif I am remembering Pervez Musharraf.

It may be a surprise for you since the lime light addicted media finds no attraction in Musharraf but an expected news of his tough days in jail. My oldest friends know that he was my hero since I was in school. Not only me but the whole nation looked at him as  a great leader after Quiad e Azam (r.a), the one who will stand for them. When Nawaz Sharif's government was dismissed people came out on the streets. They distributed sweets and danced the "Pangra". They were just fade up and screwed by one of the corrupt governments. It's astonishing that the same people are again on the roads to celebrate his victory, they are dancing and distributing sweets like nothing had happened. We must say our people have very short memory. Talking of Musharraf's early days I remember everyone turned him into an idol. Even as a kid I dint miss his single speech, single interview. His speeches used to be in fair English and in Karachi local Urdu. Weather it was young or old, working class or students they were impressed by his quick decisions, clear thinking, strong personality to challenge the looters of the nation. His stand on terrorism, on promotion of higher education, media freedom, the need to build dams showed a glimpse of soldier who was suited with weapons to fix everything and that thing, that outlook made him charismatic in the eyes of the people. At that time I was busy in arranging a scrap book which contained  Musharraf's photographs. I used to collect them from different newspapers and magazines. It became a hoppy for me like other kids collecting tickets or coins.

I think Musharraf was successful as administrator , as soldier and as an executive having born leadership qualities. His decline on the slope of power begun when he tried to become politician by finding the ways to prolong his tenure as uniformed president. In the quest for power, in greed to be Center of gravity in Pakistan he committed various mistakes like Akbar bugti's death, judges house arrest, rough behaviour with Chief Justice and imposing emergency shorten his power life and made him a bad guy. He lost his respect and people Started to queue him with other ordinary politicians. Killing Akbar Bugti gave new life to Baloch freedom fighters, thier rebelous struggle continues yet.I stopped collecting his photographs. 

Later on 2008 elections , PPP's rise to power , his unpopularity and the constitutional complexities to impeach him left Musharraf no way but to resign. I was even as one of his big fans remained neutral but I was sad thinking that his political misdeeds and constitutional disasters will take on a lead over so many good works he had done.

Musharraf left Pakistan, formed his own party , promoting it with great zeal on social media. People thought that he is saved now and will spend rest of his life with peace away from Pakistan but a pinch of self confidence, poor advisers and a miscalculated approach to weigh his support among people let him land in Pakistan to contest elections but all of his dreams came to an end when he was declared disqualified for contesting elections. He was arrested regarding many high profile cases including benazir's murder case, the emergency. The dreams were broken. His supporters were beaten up. I felt that the media , some circles of judiciary were biased in handling his case. Musharraf's supporters were not powerful enough to turn the tables. 

Now Musharraf one of most powerful, the Center of attention, the gravity of authority of his time is in jail. Counting the days of his life and expecting a miracle to save his neck from Nawaz Sharif government. 

This forgotten man's journey from a solider to general then a ruler , a politician now a prisoner have no suitable title but a lot of lessons to be learned and yes that scrap book of mine was lost somewhere the same way his hero, in the pool of new issues.