musharraf the movie

Musharraf the Movie

In his sorry excuse of a lip quivering address to the nation General Musharraf informed the 160m citizens of Pakistan that he was willing to give his life for Pakistan. Little did he know that as he uttered those words, his actions in declaring an ‘emergency’ (its martial law, end of) has sealed his fate. General Musharraf is now finished, he is a living obituary, a dead man walking, a living corpse, a zombie of sorts thanks to his final and ultimately fatal roll of the dice in declaring an emergency; it promises to be the final nail in his coffin. Very soon the angel of death will make a grand entrance, the death dance has begun and the time bomb is ticking away; in short General Musharraf has signed his own death sentence, either he survives or Pakistan dies and Pakistan can never die.

Martial law is not new in Pakistan; it has been the favourite pastime of many a Pakistani dictator and it has been one heck of a fertile mother giving birth to one martial law after another. Yet to his credit General Musharraf had seemed to buck the trend until last week with the consensus being that although he was a usurper he was a benign dictator; a dove not a hawk. That was until General Musharraf lost all his sense in declaring martial law or ‘Musharraf law’ as I choose to coin it with its guns pointed it at those most evil of people- judges and journalists. So rejoice Pakistan hail the khaki king for his timely intervention, for did you not know that the judiciary and the media had committed great ills. So arise and salute the commando general who had to rescue us all from those ghastly people in the Supreme Court and press galleries.

That said one has to marvel at the feat and laud the commando for his martial law is without parallel even in Pakistan with its infamous and chequered history. Even in luckless Pakistan never before has an army general led a coup against himself, it is Musharraf vs. Musharraf and unlike the classic American movie Kramer vs. Kramer this is a battle of one man against himself, so welcome girls and boys to ‘Musharraf the movie’ now showing on news bulletins worldwide. Yet the Musharraf movie theme seems to be a mystery, is it a sequel to his earlier achievements and the ultimate decline of a fine hero? Or is it even a prequel of Musharraf’s real vision for Pakistan, his dream of a fascist dictatorship and the rise of the anti-hero?

Yet like most Pakistani films of recent years, the Musharraf movie is a fantastic flop (apologies Shoaib Mansoor you are the exception to the rule) due to its weak plot centred on two false gods the so called ‘godfathers of evil’ namely the judiciary and the media. The charge sheet levied at the judiciary and the media do not even merit a debate in my view for they would not stack up in any credible court of law except for the kangaroo courts of the mysteriously canine sounding Mr Justice Doggar. So in my Barry Norman mode I conclude that like his flop movie, Musharraf too has flopped or to borrow a term from our friends at Aag TV he is surely now a legendary ‘lafanga flop aadmi’

To conclude, I ask the Pakistani people to resist this war crime committed in their name. Pakistan must choose to do or die. I leave you with the words of the Chief Justice which must be heeded by one and all ‘Rise up and restore the constitution, this is a time for sacrifices’. So arise Pakistan and let the battle be joined.

Wasim Arif - 8th November 2007, 05.03 PK Time