The death sentence for Musharraf .. Popular satisfaction in Pakistan and the army angry

Al-Jazeera Net - Islamabad

It took six years for the Pakistani courts to issue their first death sentence for the country's former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, on charges of high treason, a ruling that set a historical precedent in Pakistan.

The ruling, issued on Tuesday morning, a special court set up to hear charges against Musharraf, has caused a major shake-up in the military, political and popular circles.

In 2013, the trial of Musharraf began in absentia on four charges that amounted to high treason, during the third government of Nawaz Sharif, to impose a state of emergency in 2007 and to abolish the constitution and impose an interim constitution and dismiss the chief judge at the time, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who led a campaign against Musharraf in which he forced him to abdicate the leadership of the army Then he abdicated the presidency, held general elections, and pardoned Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, which allowed them to return from exile.

However, the court allowed Pervez Musharraf to leave Pakistan in 2016 for treatment for Dubai, while trial procedures that finally culminated in his conviction and death sentence continued in absentia.

Army anger
The decision, which was suspended three weeks ago by order of the Islamabad court, was issued today suddenly, apparently to shock the military establishment, as the army denounced the decision by its spokesman, Major General Asif Ghaffour, who said in an official statement that "the decision taken by the Special Court has caused Much pain and sorrow for the armed forces, soldiers and officers. "

Military analysts understand the position of the army in support of Musharraf, because the ruling on the execution of a former general falls the prestige of the positions that Musharraf was occupying and is a lesson for his successor.

That is why the army spokesman was keen to enumerate the positions held by Musharraf, saying, "A former army chief, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and president of Pakistan have served the country for more than forty years, he cannot be a traitor."

He described the judicial system that issued the ruling as not relying on regular legal mechanisms.

Popular welcome
Although the Pakistani government asked the Islamabad court last November 28 to stop the ruling in an attempt to please the army, which angered the lawyers at the time, they declared a general strike across the country; the special court did not bow and announced its initial decision to honor Musharraf.

Political analyst Mohamed Mahdi said that the decision "received a great popular welcome among the various civil and political spectrums. The people do not oppose the army, but they hate dictatorship."

Musharraf's name was associated with a number of major cases that political and human rights activists were calling for to be tried on the basis of it, such as the coup against the second government of Nawaz Sharif in 1999, the abolition of civil rule and the constitution, the declaration of a state of emergency, and the imposition of the army's control of power.

Mahdi said that the decision, "although it does not guarantee that military coups will not be repeated, but it constitutes a strong deterrent to the weak-spirited military in the future."

While the President of the Pakistani Youth Parliament, Hanan Abbasi, believed that the trial should have included all those involved with Musharraf also from the civil leaders in the coup that took place in 1999 and the declaration of the state of emergency in 2007, and the ruling will not be fragmented and limited to Musharraf alone without Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the judges who supported Musharraf .

In the Pakistani popular memory, Musharraf is linked to his announcement to join the International War Coalition in Afghanistan 2001, which destroyed Pakistani infrastructure and roads, as Pakistan has become a route for NATO supplies with heavy military mechanisms, and this involvement has sparked a cycle of violence in Pakistan.

The human rights record of General Musharraf also includes his confession in his book "On the Line of Fire" by handing over a number of Pakistani citizens to the international coalition forces, where they will be taken to Guantanamo Bay.

For his part, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ghazi, director of Hafsah University for Girls, the Imam and the former preacher of the Red Mosque - the mosque that was exposed during the Musharraf’s reign in 2007 to a military campaign that killed dozens of students - believes that the decision of the Pakistani court does not concern him or avenge the blood of the victims, as he does not recognize In the court did not plead before it against Musharraf, and he said that he entrusts the matter to God Almighty, as he put it.

Judge Sharafat Ali Chaudhry, in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, questioned the feasibility of this court ruling, as it was a preliminary ruling issued in absentia, and said that the courts have a long way to go from appeal and appeal until the ruling becomes effective and that Pakistan can demand that the UAE extradite him.

He considered that it is difficult for the death sentence to remain the same, calling for the lack of urgency as a historical ruling or the issuance of loose titles on him.