When you view an object through the eyepiece of a telescope, it is magnified. But when you view the same thing from the wrong end, it is greatly diminished in size.

This is exactly what seems to have happened to Gen Musharraf ever since he announced that he would hold a referendum to retain his self-proclaimed presidency for a further five years. The sight of him in battle fatigues trying to whip up the enthusiasm of the listless rent-a-crowd that are being bused into his rallies is both embarrassing and instructive.

It demonstrates yet again the virtue of sticking to what you do best. Clearly, slogan mongering is something the general should leave to politicians because he is terrible at it. His stiffness and his awkward body language show that rabble rousing does not come naturally to him.

As long as he was playing the role of saviour, he was pretty much above criticism. Indeed, just about all he got from the press were bouquets. But now that he has entered the political arena as yet another power-hungry politician, he should get used to the brickbats that will come his way with increasing frequency and accuracy. As is the case for so many messiahs, he is convinced that he has a divine mission to cleanse the land and repay the national debt; while saying amen, not all of us are wholly convinced that he has a God-given right to rule us indefinitely.

When Musharraf's colleagues staged a coup while he was still airborne, the fact is that he stepped in to save his job as Nawaz Sharif had exercised his constitutional right to appoint the army chief of his choice. Unfortunately for the ex-PM, his usual lack of finesse brought him into an unnecessary confrontation with the army, and he paid the price for his clumsy tactics. But let us be clear that there was no grand principle or noble ideal that motivated the junta. Nevertheless, we were happy to be rid of Nawaz Sharif and his band of thugs. So imagine our surprise to find a number of them, led by the Chaudries of Gujrat, poised to stage a comeback through the back door with Musharraf's help.

The general's handlers and advisers need to tell him how undignified it is for him to fulminate against the leaders of the two biggest political parties day in and day out. The president is supposed to be a symbol of unity in a very divided country; he is also supposed to be above petty political bickering. By launching venomous broadsides against elected politicians whom he once saluted in uniform, he is bringing disrepute to both the offices he currently holds.

When he attacked them earlier, we listened because he was not running a political campaign.In his disjointed speech announcing the referendum, he began by saying that Pakistan was at the crossroads. Now I have been hearing politicians utter this cliché ever since I began reading newspapers many years ago, and just wish we could somehow move on past this wretched crossroads. Surely there has been some progress over the last five decades, or is everyone who seizes power going to claim credit for improving our lot?

General Musharraf accuses Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif of misusing state funds for their own political purposes, apart from enriching themselves. I have no doubt they are guilty as charged. But under what law is money from the public exchequer now being diverted for the referendum? The Sindh government alone has released nearly 60 million rupees to arrange various public rallies to be addressed by Musharraf. Add to this what the other provinces are spending, plus the losses suffered by transporters through the commandeering of public transport all over the country to ferry state functionaries and the employees of local governments to rallies. I would also like to know who is paying for all the ads that are appearing, urging us to vote for the general. And then there is the huge cost (some estimates put it at a billion rupees) of actually organizing the referendum at the end of this month.

Pakistan's election rules stipulate strict spending limits (observed largely in the breach) to the amount that can be spent by candidates, but as the referendum was intended to solicit our views on matters of national importance and not to elect the president, no such limit was laid down for the exercise. Taking advantage of this lacuna, the government is spending money as though there was no tomorrow, and in the process, the poor locally elected Nazims are being forced to splurge from their meager budgets. Those who resist are reportedly being threatened with removal from office.

Perhaps the most disturbing feature of the whole pathetic business is the overt politicizing of the army. Corps commanders in uniform have been prominent in Musharraf's rallies. If memory serves, even Zia kept his uniformed colleagues in the background while going through the motions of his farcical referendum. On the one hand, junior officers are taught to stay aloof from politics, and on the other hand, they have the example of top generals participating in rallies.

After my column on the same subject last week, a number of readers have reminded me that I accepted the military coup in 1999, and should therefore not complain about the referendum now. In my defence, I can only say that at the time, he was certainly the lesser of the two evils as Nawaz Sharif was threatening to centralize all powers and destroy every institution. And to be fair to Musharraf, it must be said that he has helped to stabilize the economy and has taken some difficult decisions after September 11.

For me, his greatest achievement is the abolishing of Zia's baneful and discriminatory system of separate electorates. Had he left it at that and supervised fair elections in October and then returned to the barracks, he would have been a national hero. Unfortunately, his decision to hang on through the dubious means of a one-sided, unopposed referendum has tarnished his reputation.

The fact is that as a non-partisan, upright, plain-speaking leader, he commanded our respect and admiration. When he spoke, he gave it to us straight. Now when he addresses rallies, he promises his audiences the moon while claiming credit for everything good and blaming politicians for everything bad. In short, he has morphed into the symbol of the very class he holds responsible for the nation's ills.

If he looks like a politician and sounds like a politician, then he must be a politician.