New Delhi: Nawaz Sharif has sparked a heated debate in Pakistan after the former prime minister urged the PML-N government, led by his brother Shehbaz, to facilitate the return of ex-military dictator Pervez Musharraf. But many experts ThePrint spoke to say online critics are missing the point: Sharif is just toeing the army line.
“I have no personal enmity or animosity towards Pervez Musharraf. I don’t want anyone else to suffer the traumas I have to endure for my loved ones. I pray to Allah Almighty for his health. If he wants to come back, the government should facilitate his return,” Sharif tweeted Tuesday.
Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, has been living in self-imposed exile in Dubai. Last week, his family had announced that the former dictator had been hospitalised due to amyloidosis, a rare disease caused by a build-up of an abnormal protein in organs and tissues. But they dismissed reports that he was on a ventilator. Pakistani media also reported this week that Musharraf wanted to “spend the rest of his life in Pakistan”.
While social media erupted with harsh words against Sharif, with many saying the PML-N government has no right to “forgive” the former dictator and allow his return, Pakistani journalists and experts say the decision wasn’t Sharif’s alone.
“There’s a lot of backlash against Nawaz Sharif and people are asking whether PML-N even has the right to ‘forgive’ Musharraf and suggest his return. They are missing the point. If you listen to former PM Yousaf Gillani’s remarks on the Senate floor yesterday, it’s clear that the decision was not in the government’s hands,” Geo TV anchor Hamid Mir told ThePrint.
On Wednesday, during a sitting of the upper house of the parliament, PPP senator and former PM Yousaf Raza Gillani asked: “Were you able to stop him [Musharraf] when he was leaving (the country)? Will you be able to stop him from returning?…This is a futile exercise.”
Hours before Nawaz Sharif’s tweet, Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar had said that the military leadership supports Musharraf returning to Pakistan. “We have contacted his family. Once his family responds, we can make the required arrangements,” the military’s spokesperson said.
This also came a week after Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said that there should be no hurdles if the former dictator wanted to come back to Pakistan.
Also read: Pakistan drama not over. It’s on between ‘short-term’ Shehbaz, ‘honest’ Imran, ‘mature’ Bajwa
Nawaz Sharif wanted to ‘soften heart of Army Generals’
Nawaz Sharif’s kindness towards an ailing Musharraf– the man who allegedly overthrew the former PM with a coup, and then allegedly stopped the Sharif brothers from attending their father’s funeral in 2004 – also caught many people’s attention.
On Wednesday, during a sitting of the upper house of the National Assembly, PPP senator and former PM Yousaf Raza Gillani had asked: “Were you able to stop him [Musharraf] when he was leaving (the country)? Will you be able to stop him from returning?…This is a futile exercise.”
According to Ayesha Siddiqa, senior fellow at the Department of War Studies in King’s College, London, this is an attempt by Sharif to gain some credit with the Army.
“I think the army has already taken the decision to stand by their man [Musharraf] and fulfill his wish to bring him back to Pakistan to spend his remaining days in the country. Nawaz’s demonstration of kindness is just an admission that the former prime minister wants to soften the heart of the Army high command but whether he benefits from this is unlikely. Sharif’s statement was just overshooting without possible rewards,” she told ThePrint.
Also read: Ailing Musharraf ‘wants to spend rest of his life in Pakistan’
The likes of Reena Omer, legal advisor (South Asia) at the International Commission of Jurists, remarked: “Musharraf abrogated the constitution, not once but twice; assaulted independence of the judiciary; and was involved in gross human rights violations including disappearances, torture, extrajudicial executions of thousands of people. These crimes are not for Nawaz Sharif to ‘forgive’.”
However, there are some experts who feel that the online backlash does not reflect the opinions on ground.
“From my understanding, there’s not a lot of backlash on the ground. Citizens and politicians — even those from the opposition — have endorsed Musharraf’s return. There seems to be a reconciliation with the past,” former Pakistani diplomat Zafar Hilaly told ThePrint.
Meanwhile, Pakistani journalist Salman Durrani shared a meme that was doing the rounds after Nawaz Sharif’s “pro-Musharraf” tweet. The meme said, “Stop with the loving”.
PMLN trolls to Nawaz Sharif after his Pro Musharraf Tweet: pic.twitter.com/MOgZQTB4mN
— Salman Durrani (@DurraniViews) June 14, 2022
Source: The Print
