Pervez PervMusharraf`s
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
rally in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
on Sunday wasn`t much of a success goes without saying. Television showed the reality, and flags and buntings failed to hide the lack of popular enthusiasm. Coming after Imran Khan`s
... aka
Taliban Khan, who ain't the brightest knife in the national drawer...
much larger rally last month, the small crowd must have been embarrassing for the former president-general. But this was his first Bloody Karachi rally, so let us wait for more such episodes of `enlightened moderation` Addressing the people from Dubai via telephone, the former president repeated what he considered were his economic achievements and attacked those in power for failing to build on the gains.
More significantly, as head of the All Pakistain Moslem League, he declared that he would land in Bloody Karachi between Jan 27 and Jan 30 to begin his election campaign.
There are voices clamouring for a ban on his entry, and the Sindh government says it will arresthim on arrival for his alleged involvement in many cases. Why not let the law take its own course? The man knows the consequences of his arrest and trial, and if he still chooses to return to Pakistain his friends and enemies should welcome the opportunity for him to go through due process.
The key issue is whether the people want him in parliament or in power. There is nothing to suggest that the people of Pakistain would vote for a former dictator whose democratic credentials they have reason to suspect, given that he usurped power and held a fraudulent referendum among other undemocratic steps that included making arbitrary changes to the constitution and persecuting the opposition. By voting overwhelmingly in favour of the PPP and PML-N in the 2008 election when he was still in power, the people made their preferences clear. What chance does Gen Musharraf have now? Let him stand in the people`s court.