I think it’s time for the ex-General to realize that he should take graceful retirement.. and come at peace with the fact that he is totally irrelevant/unwanted and has no role what so ever in any future politics of Pakistan. He had his chance.. or better illegally acted to create an opportunity for himself.. and was the center of power for nine long years. he has done much more harm to the country than any good. Its best for him to stay quite.. if he doesn’t want to face public anger towards him..
LONDON: A man tried to hurl shoe towards former president General (retd.) Pervez Musharraf when the latter was addressing a gathering here, Geo News reported.
The attempt was made when Musharraf was addressing Kashmiri Community in Luton. On this security men present there sprung to action and took the man out of the place.
Another man present in the ceremony also chanted slogans against the former president.
The man who left his country in the throes of loadshedding got a taste of his own medicine. Becoming a victim of power failure, General Musharraf lost several thousand dollars and a caged audience when the university holding his lecture two days ago, cancelled. Drew University in New Jersey got hit by a massive blackout after a snowstorm battered the East Coast. Students were sent packing, told to stay off campus until power returned. I had paid good money to confront Musharraf with questions swirling my space for weeks.
What are you doing in our midst when your bête noir, the man you detest, is today’s conquering hero? This was to be my opening salvo. You’re irrelevant, extra, outdated and the security mumbo-jumbo you scatter around like the Cliff Notes school kids memorise to pass Shakespeare is baloney (while in US, speak as the Americans do!). I wonder what Musharraf would have said.
Now I’ll never get to ask the ancient ‘commando’ about Imran Khan’s dizzying success.
My next question to Musharraf: You’ve signed a seven month contract with a firm in Washington for $175,000 to lobby for you. Your trick is to stick your foot in the door of power brokers on whose coattails you hope to fly to Islamabad. Either you are abysmally ignorant of the winds of change blowing across American strategic and political interests or you have money to burn. Your presence here is no longer relevant. While Imran Khan’s grassroots support is homegrown and indigenous (as seen recently), you enjoy Washington-sired, the Pentagon-fed and CIA-controlled power?
Now I’ll never get to ask the wannabe president about his dollar account.
The would-be turnout is not sitting home wringing their hands as I’m at the cancelled forum. Not many would have bothered to pay to come and listen to a has-been general, that too a dictator! Suburbia America cares a hoot about Pakistan. Other than a few news channels, CNN being in the forefront, the mass media today is more seized with the ex-king of Godfather’s Pizza, Herman Cain than the unsexy terror stories from Pakistan. The black businessman is a huge hit with the Americans. Were presidential elections held today, analysts say Cain would defeat Obama. Good old Musharraf stands no chance of competing for the spotlight unless some woman or women come forward with stories of being sexually harassed by him while he was president. And Musharraf paid them huge sums to shut up. Or if Musharraf was to come out with an outrageous revelation against the ISI, GHQ or the presidency. That sure would be a show stopper. The first to jump in with glee would be his former bosses in Washington. They’d work on sending him back to the presidential palace on the hill from where they saw him off three years ago.
Dr Mujtaba who calls himself the ‘central vice president’ of the APML (All Pakistan Muslim League) vows the victorious return of his beloved leader on March 23, next year. “The basic and real problem facing the country is its slowing economy, however, Musharraf is (the) only political figure who could safeguard it. Musharraf is the only person whom the world rely [sic]. The donor agencies, which are currently reluctant to give funds to the present rulers, will give funds to the country over their trust on him [sic].” Oh really?
My last question to Musharraf would be: What’s your fascination with medical doctors? Dr Nasim Ashraf lobbies for you in Washington and now you have Dr Mujtaba in Karachi. But one ran away from the pack: Dr Sher Afgan Niazi. And thank God for that! His ramblings jog-trotted on TV and delivered in non-stop slop got insufferable.
The courts meanwhile in Pakistan want Musharraf arrested in Akbar Bugti’s murder case. As for my questions above, Musharraf would rightly say: “Mind your language” to most!
The writer is a freelance journalist. Email: anjumniaz@Rocketmail. com