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15 January 2013
By Saeed Qureshi
The first fugitive is Pervez Musharraf,
the former COAS and
president of Pakistan. The second is Hussain Haqqani, the
former ambassador of Pakistan to the United States and
the third is Altaf Hussain, the
Chairman, founder and godfather of the MQM.
They cannot go back to their own country Pakistan for
specific reasons.
Pervez Musharraf
would be hunted down by the religious outfits for his
role in sending army to the FATA against
the militants, mostly Taliban. He could also be
targeted by al-Qaida operatives
and other religious militants for ordering attack on
the Lal Masjid and
affiliated religious Jamia Hafsa Madrassa (the
religious seminary) in July 2007 in which reportedly
154 lives were lost and many more people were injured.
During his presidency, four attempts were made on the
life of Musharraf but each time he escaped unhurt.
These attacks were made by the groups like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Alam and
other affiliates of Taliban within Pakistan. Two such
attempts were made during the Lal Masjid siege
and one after its completion.
General Musharraf who now resides in London has
several criminal cases pending against him. One is
about the missing persons, the second about as an
accomplice in the murder of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto
and providing inadequate security to her during her
public meeting in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
He is also accused of ordering the assassination of
the Baloch leader Bugti.
But apart from that, the Bugti clan
is after his life and hefty award has been set aside
by the family for anyone who would kill Musharraf.
Pervez Musharraf
is currently the president of All Pakistan Muslim
League. He wanted to return to Pakistan early 2012 for
preparation of the elections and to mobilize his party
and organize it. But he had to postpone that plan
after the then ISI chief,
general Shuja Pasha
persuaded him to call off his return to Pakistan.
In the meantime there have been calls from the
political parties and socio-political
and religious circles to arrest him through the
Interpol if necessary. But perhaps there are several
legal glitches that have saved the former
president from this dreadful eventuality.
For instance, the "Abbottabad district and Sessions
judge in a missing persons' case, passed judgment
asking the authorities to declare Pervez Musharraf a
proclaimed offender. On 11 February 2011 the Anti
Terrorism Court issued an arrest warrant for Musharraf
and charged him with conspiracy to commit murder of Benazir Bhutto.
On 8 March 2011, the Sindh High Court registered
treason charges against him."
It appears Pervez Musharraf
has not future in Pakistan and he will have to lead
the rest of his life in exile. His case is similar to
a former president of Pakistan General Iskander Mirza who
died in obscurity and miserable conditions in London,
until his death on 12 November 1969.
The second prominent exiled figure is Hussain Haqqani who
served at various prestigious posts, the last one
being the ambassador of Pakistan in Washington D.
C. Before taking over the ambassadorial assignment,
Mr. Haqqani had
already enjoyed enormous clout within the United
States. His profile reveals that, "He served as an
adviser to three former Pakistani prime ministers and
as envoy to Sri Lanka.
Besides he was reputed as a prominent journalist,
scholar and educator. He is a Senior Fellow and
Director for South and Central Asia at the Hudson
Institute in Washington, D.C.
Also he is co-editor of Hudson's signature journal
Current Trends in Islamist Ideology,
the Director of the Center of International Relations.
He is very intelligent sharp and intellectual. He is a
good speaker and an astute analyst of the
international affairs. The former ambassador is
nowadays serving in Boston University of the US as a
Professor of International Relations.
But there are good times and there are bad times in a
man's life. Mr. Haqqani has
fallen not only on bad but worst times. All of sudden
his exceptional ability and distinctive career seems
to be blown up in the air and turned useless. He is
now looked upon as a traitor to Pakistan.
His sudden yet steep debacle and downfall took a start
from the day Osman bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad by
the American Navy Seals. The PPP government
apprehended the likelihood of army taking over the
power. That was perhaps a misplaced apprehension, yet
it turned to be an egregious misfortune and an
'Achilles Heel' for Ambassador Haqqani.
Mansoor Ijaz an
American businessman of Pakistani ancestry alleged
that former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani asked
him to deliver a confidential memo to Mike Mullen the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Through the
memo the US assistance was sought in averting a
military takeover of the civilian government in
Pakistan in the wake of the Osama bin
Laden raid, and to assist in a civilian takeover of
the military apparatus.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan constituted a judicial
commission to investigate the origin, purpose and
authenticity of the memorandum. The three-member
judicial commission concluded in their report released
on June12,2012 that "the memo had been written under
instructions from Haqqani,
and that, in doing so, the Ambassador was not loyal to
Pakistan and had sought to undermine the security of
the country's nuclear assets, the armed forces, the
Inter-Services Intelligence and the Constitution". Haqqani criticized
the judicial commission as one-sided and noted that
the commission was not a court of law with the
authority to establish guilt or innocence.
The Supreme Court, upon hearing the report in session,
ordered the former ambassador to appear before the
bench in its next hearing and adjourned the case for
two weeks until early July 2012. During that period
Mr. Haqqani presented
himself briefly before the court. Thereafter he left
for Untied States although he promised to the court
that he would reappear within four days. A larger
bench of apex court headed by chief justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry will now hear the case on January
28.
The last hearing of memo case was held on November 13
2012, in which Haqqani didn't
appear due to security concerns. .The chief justice
remarked during the November hearing that "If he does
not come back in accordance with judicial order, the
court would be bound to issue an order and then Hussain Haqqani would
have to come back under his personal security". In
response to court's orders Mr. Haqqani stated
on 14th January that "how I will return to the country
with no security assurance."
Unfortunately, Haqqani seems
to be caught in a proverbial situation of caught
"between deep sea and devil". It is evident that like
president Musharraf, Mr. Haqqani too
will live abroad without ever returning to Pakistan
unless there is miracle that turns the events upside
down.
The third VVIP in self-exile is Altaf Hussain. Altaf Hussain sneaked
out of Pakistan one month before the launching of the
Operation Clean-up (June 19, 1992 to August 14, 1994).
His flight from Pakistan also was the result of an
attempt on his life on 21 December 1991 that was the
third of its kind. He was given political asylum by
the British government and is staying ever since in
London.
Recently the MQM boss
announced that he was about to launch a drone attack
by which it was speculated that he was finally
returning to Pakistan. But in his lengthy speech he
categorically announced that he had no plans to come
back to Pakistan.
Understandably, he cannot return to Pakistan to face
several thousand cases of very serious import pending
against him. Moreover there could be mortal danger to
his life from his opponents who have deep-seated
grudge and bitterest feelings of revenge against him.
His cases too, along with many thousand other
convicts, were pardoned under NRO issued
by Pervez Musharraf
on October 5, 2007. Yet after the Supreme Court of
Pakistan declared it unconstitutional on 16 December
2009, all dropped cases stand revived.
Could these powerful celebrities had ever imagined
that with all their clout, powers, magnificence and
overwhelming loyalty and support of their adherents,
they would fall to such a depth of ignominy, disgrace
and even isolation? The power, pelf and their
prestigious positions have proven to be ephemeral
spells that drifted away like the spent-up clouds.
The moral lesson of such bleak situations is to serve
the community, country and the people with honesty,
sincerity and selflessness and to walk the right,
righteous path. Such a path leads to the lasting
gratitude during life and an immortal reverence after
death in the hearts of the people that one had served.
One such glowing example is that of the Quaid-e-Azam. |
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