Musharraf's roller coaster ride

One of the most prominent faces in the media over last decade or so has been the man with multiple roles, Pervez Musharraf. The reason why he was every where in media was perhaps his own doing or his reaction to events around him or it was the need of the circumstances to put him there, this is something to be debated over and over again. Perhaps it was the love of media or hatred or they were just doing their job but for sure he remained in the limelight all through the decade.

He had been naughty and adventures always. I don’t think many people know that during his days in army, as a matter of fact it was during his initial training he came very close to being shunted out of the army. Just imagine if that had happened how different things would have been today in Pakistan. But that was not to be.

Having followed world affairs in general and Indian in particular, I have quite closely kept track of Musharraf’s rollercoaster ride.

It is very interesting that the man who made Musharraf the Army Chief was the one he ousted in the famous bloodless coup of 1999. It’s even more amusing that the same man is closely involved in Musharraf’s ouster now.

For Indians Musharraf became a household name after our Kargil victory. After that he has managed to stay in the news come what may. And as things turned out in Afghanistan first and Iraq later, Pakistan surprising became an important alley in the ‘war against terrorism’ and Musharraf the darling of America. It goes to his credit that he used the circumstances to his advantage and turned himself from an army chief to CEO (very interesting) and later President (sometimes all simultaneously).

But like they say ‘only thing constant in this world is change’ and they don’t say it just for fun. The circumstances changed world over and in Pakistan. He himself allowed, as the events demanded, two ex PM’s to return back and took some nasty decisions including sacking the judges and the Red Mosque fiasco.

The end result was he had to quit, something he must have never thought he’ll end up doing. The darling of America all of sudden became an internal matter of Pakistan for US. In any case in a rollercoaster ride there are ups and down and eventually you come down and usually at the same spot where you had started.

Musharraf after a decade in headlines may be lost in oblivion. One thing still left to be seen is that many in Pakistan and the world don’t think of him as anything more than a dictator. Will he meet the same fate as others before him or future has something else in store for him. Well, all that we can do is wait and watch.


Written by: Rohit Mishra