In the recent past, military government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been under severe pressure. Never before has he been under so great a siege since he took the charge of Pakistan about eight years back in a military coup in 1999.
Landing a knockout punch to the General Musharraf’s autocratic regime, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled the suspension of Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry as ‘illegal’ and restored nation’s top judge to his previous position.
Musharraf administration indicted Chaudhry with a number of accusations that includes harassment of subordinate judges, biased appointments, using authority to place his son, doctoring gasoline expenses, proclivity for expensive cars, intimidating police and government employees and so on.
But the chief justice, out of the blue, taken aback General Musharraf by challenging his dismissal in the Court.
The recent judgment, a big blow to dictatorship in Pakistan, by the thirteen judge bench - under Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday - is perhaps the biggest challenge to Musharraf’s eight year old military rule that was already weighed down by Islamic militants and supporters of democracy.
To add to the woes, the US is also losing confidence in Musharraf’s ability to embark upon Islamic militancy that shelter and support Al Qaeda and the Taliban militants in the tribal area of Wazaristan, close to the Afghan Border.
Most of the people may have been surprised by the court ruling against the military ruler who has been dominating the nation for almost a decade, but what surprises me is the ease with which Musharraf has accepted the decision of the Court that has defied him altogether.
You may not observe, time and again, such a drastic change in an autocrat. The upcoming Presidential elections, which require a secular or democratic stance and attitude, may well be an illustration for the changed approach or mental attire of the army general.
