KARACHI Aug 18 Former president Pervez Musharraf's decision to resign, announced on national television on Monday exactly two decades and a day after the country's last military leader was killed in a plane crash, met with mixed responses in the city.

Coming as it did after over a year of constitutional and political turmoil which peaked, some believe, with the coalition government's decision to initiate impeachment proceedings against the holder of the nation's highest office, the decision appears to have left most people in a reflective mood vis-à-vis the past and with no little trepidation about the future.

As 41-year old marketing executive Rasheed Rana told Dawn, “unlike the years of General Zia's rule, the Musharraf era cannot be seen in black and white terms. He is responsible for serious misadventures, such as the gross violation of the constitution, the muzzling of the press and the assault on the superior judiciary.

But it is also true that he took steps towards liberalisation, the empowerment of women and initiating the local bodies' system. Regardless of the jubilation witnessed amongst a certain section of the population, and particularly the supporters of the PML-N and the PPP, the fact remains that at least in Karachi, a number of people continue to support the former president and it should not be forgotten that the strongest political party in the city, the MQM, was and may yet remain one of Mr Musharraf's most vocal defenders.”

On the other hand, however, a significant bank of people had for many months held that no political solution to the country's problems was forthcoming as long as Mr Musharraf remained in the picture. As college teacher Naveed pointed out, “the decision comes at a time when we have all already been hit hard by rising prices, powers shortages and the impact of the reduction of subsidies on various goods such as oil and wheat.

It is perhaps not fair to say that the former government was solely responsible for all the issues we face right now — the rise in oil prices, for example — but it was certainly instrumental in arriving at this very difficult juncture. Given that Mr Musharraf, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif cannot coexist because of the manner in which the country's recent history has played out, it was best that he resigned — he should, in fact, have taken this step many months ago, perhaps right after the elections. Now that he has done it, the ruling coalition has no further excuse to continue to ignore key issues and must get down to that task immediately.”

Relief at resignation

Official party-statements and responses to Mr Musharraf's resignation continued to pour in until late Monday night, and it is as yet unclear whether there is any possibility of the now-invalid impeachment proceedings being turned into a trial before a competent court of law.

However, when Dawn approached a cross-section of people in the city to inquire about their views regarding the recent threat of impeachment proceedings and the resignation, what stood out in the responses was a sense of relief that Mr Musharraf's decision had at least averted the political chaos that would have been inevitable had he decided to fight it out — even though a quick solution to the country's problems continues to elude.

“It is the president's turn to face the music,” commented 30-year-old publicist Ahmed. “When he overthrew the government [in 1999], people looked to him as a saviour. But over the years and on the shallow path of democracy, he and his uniform absorbed politics and that's when all the trouble started.”

While Mr Ahmed's comments reflected a somewhat sympathetic view towards the Musharraf government, a harsher stance was taken by Haroon, a 38-year-old electrician. “He has been ruling the country illegitimately for more than eight years and it is now time for him to go. I prefer the fact, however, that he chose to resign rather than be impeached.” His views were echoed by social worker Ali, who supported the move towards impeachment. “It would have sent out a good message to the world about us not tolerating a dictator who suspended the Constitution and derailed democracy,” he stated. “It doesn't even matter whether he has done good things for Pakistan; the fact that he was an un-elected and unpopular dictator was reason enough for the government to impeach him.”

But retired army officer Jawad expressed the belief that the threat of impeachment was unnecessary. “This is the time for national reconciliation and the man who initiated this should be respected and tolerated in the true spirit of nation-building,” he said. “Even if our politicians feel genuinely victimised at his hands, at this point in time the nation needs sacrifices from its citizens.”

Personality politics

According to Ahsan, a banker, part of the trouble lies in the fact that politics in Pakistan are dominated by allegiance to personalities rather than systems. “It is a very complicated situation, given that our democratic politicians are tainted with allegations of corruption while an un-elected dictator appears — but perhaps appears, only — to be relatively clean,” he observed. “For that to change, faith has to be put into strengthening the democratic political process, which means allowing elected governments to complete their terms — howsoever inefficient or corrupt they may be. The citizenry must have the right to vote them out of power. And in terms of Musharraf's resignation . . . . well, the fact remains that the country is worse off today than it was in 1999 and that Lal Masjid, the Pakistani Taliban, Nawab Bugti's and Benazir Bhutto's deaths happened on the previous government's watch.”

This observation was borne out by the views expressed by a number of people who expressed their preference for Mr Musharraf given a perceived lack of options. Television producer Mehreen, for example, said “whatever his flaws, he hasn't robbed the country blind” while software engineer Khurram commented that “the government's two powerbrokers, Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, are more interested in turf wars than in mounting a consistent policy platform. The impeachment move gave them further reason to keep at bay an electorate with little faith in them.”

And, as 23-year-old medical student Tariq pointed out, “if the politicians are calling for accountability, then it should be across the board. Mr Zardari and Mr Sharif should also be held answerable for their actions.” His views were echoed by Sohail, a lawyer, who stated “Musharraf was a political hurdle, not a governance hurdle. Now that he is out of the picture, the government has to prove itself in terms of addressing policy matters — which is an area where it has shown absolutely no progress so far. Afghanistan, Balochistan, militancy, economic troubles — all these issues are still there and it remains to be seen how the coalition handles them. As for whether he should be tried, well, perhaps not under the current situation. A trial would raise the fear of another intervention by the army, for many of his controversial decisions were taken while he was both president and COAS. And, let us not forget that historically his sins were no better or worse than those committed by the ones who wanted to impeach him, the very ones — including the PPP, the MQM and the PML-N, who benefited directly under the NRO and are in government today.”