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(UPDATED) Musharraf, The Reformer That Never Was: A Soldier Remembers

July 24th, 2009 | 13 Comments

By Brigadier Simon Samson Sharaf

(The previous version was an excerpt. Brigadier sb has been kind enough to send us his complete piece)

General (r) Pervaiz Musharraf had been the GOC in Okara and a role model in all respects. Training, administration, welfare or extra curricular, he was seen everywhere. In the evenings, he with his wife were a common sight, sitting at the bedside of patients and inquiring their welfare as also keep the hospital staff on toes. I remember my course mate Lt. Col Zia getting a cardiac arrest. The couple sat through the night outside the CCU and wept profoundly when his death was announced in the morning. His presence brought a big developmental and social change in the deserted garrison. He played sports with youngsters, took care of their professional development and was always considered a mentor. I remember him as a Corps Commander in Mangla, when he brought me his personal life jacket for surfing and looked after my family as a personal guest.He was a commander and leader who lived in hearts and minds.

I knew him close enough to be candid and tell him his wrongs on his face. He always accepted criticism positively and sometimes graciously conceded. The day he took over, he was obsessed with devolution. As a staff officer, I had to remind him through presentations that devolution and local self government were two different things. He never comprehended and kept vacillating between the two and thats when a rigidity in his mindset became apparent. Some of his immediate staff members like the DGMO did not persevere either. Had they been as apt as I was, things could have been different. Today, we see a renewal of this concept in devolution of Punjab.

I protested that Seven Points Agenda was Utopian and beyond reach. I wanted it to be reduced to Law and Justice at Grassroots, Education and Fast Track Socio Economic Development. I reminded him of Khalil Gibran who said that a day would come when even monkeys would disclaim kinship with us. As they gathered around him and we got isolated, he persisted that he could could power through all difficulties and achieve the impossible. Thats when the real Musharraf I saw as a GOC began to fade away.

I insisted through noting that we were a declared nuclear state and ought to manifest very responsible international behavior as also get Kargil off our backs. I was most vocal of the rising tide of militancy. Perhaps he still does not realize the damage it caused to Pakistan.

In a noting on 13 October 1999, I warned him to beware of Fly by Night Reformers as they would lead him off course. He entertained all of them with Shaukat Aziz in command. As he isolated himself from well wishing critics, a jingoist began to emerge.

I was weary of the CBR plans for Tax Reforms ( Value addition through Sales Tax). I told both the DGMO and CGS that Pakistan was economically doomed. Shaukat Aziz launched a strong protest for my removal. As of today, this reform has led to a berserk Sales Tax regime, more a levy than a value addition. It has closed small scale manufacturing sectors, discouraged growth and ushered consumerism.

I noted that the biggest test of his sincerity would be his honorable retirement on the due date. In the same note I also warned against the hazards of pro military political groupings. He underlined my comments and proceeded to make PMLQ.

There is a lot more but………………….

Written by admin

Filed under: Pakistan · Tags: looking back, military rulers, Musharraf, reformer

13 Responses to "(UPDATED) Musharraf, The Reformer That Never Was: A Soldier Remembers"

haq says:

July 24, 2009 at 6:07 pm

Would the soldier care to give his name now? Would he explain why he sees fit to raise these issues publicly now that Pervez Musharaf is at his weakest.

May I ask him that what analysis prompted him to conclude that Paksitan’s economy was doomed. Such a sweeping conclusion in an area which is complex and inherently contains many options and even more possible results. To reach such a conclusion one must have been been deeply involved in such analysis. But here the Soldier is using language which serious analysis does not use. Very strange if one has really done spent time on such a subject, understood it….you generally end up using the language of that profession.

I would guess that as a soldier he was never trained to be an economist. So he must have consulted a number of well qualified economists to reach this conclusion. Can he share that please? Did he discuss these with PM’s economic team and understand why they agreed or disagreed?

What does he mean “get Kargil off our back”? If nothing else PM has been credited by a number of independent analysts of giving a fresh start to India Pakistan relations. He travelled this road much further than any Paksitani leader in recent times. So what does this Soldier means when he says that PM remained jingoistic?

Would the Soldier care to explain all of this or would he prefer to do his deed like one of the many anonymous Roman senators who stabbed Ceaser when he was already crippled.
burhanahmad says:

July 24, 2009 at 10:00 pm

What kinda junk is this?
seems like random rants of someone trying to jump into limelight!
neel123 says:

July 25, 2009 at 3:21 am

Musharraff is a skillfull liar, whose brilliance lies in sending army regulars to Kargil heights, and naming them Kashmiri freedom fighters.

Musharraff duped the whole world, while successfully milking the Americans of more than ten billion dollars, and pretending to be fighting the terrorists.

But the sad part is , he duped the Pakistanis also. Every time he found himself in trouble, he would claim that Pakistan was in trouble, did not hesitate to clamp emergency and gagging the judiciary, to consolidate hold on power

The results of his actions are being endured by every Pakistani today !
hossp says:

July 25, 2009 at 6:00 am

@Haq
I think instead of writing a long post the former soldier has done the right thing by writing crisply and succinctly what the issues were with the former General who took Pakistan as his fiefdom. I am in a car travelling- not driving- so I will be as crisp and short as the author is.
Musharaf might have done a few things that you liked but for majority of Pakistani he was the worst thing that happened to Pakistan at the most importunate time. He had no clue about the governance, he had no clue about how governments operate, his lack of knowledge on many affair showed how pathetic that man was. I would say he represented an institution that has failed to recognize its place in Pakistan and has overreached with dire consequences.
Unfortunately, that institution trained him to act a certain way and that institution will continue to churn out dumb like Musharraf until people get up and tell the institution that enough is enough. There is no need to write a lengthy post about Musharraf. He was nobody without his uniform and after the uniform he again is nobody. If you read carefully the former Soldier has touched upon some basic flaws in Musharraf’s approach. Unfortunately,there are more in the Pakistan army like him than the former soldier above.
PMA says:

July 25, 2009 at 6:35 am

“Unfortunately, that institution trained him to act a certain way and that institution will continue to churn out dumb like Musharraf until people get up and tell the institution that enough is enough.”

Here we go again. Indians ridiculing and demonising Defence Forces of Pakistan. These guys never miss a chance. Do they.
Javed Ansari says:

July 25, 2009 at 4:52 pm

Such a pity that all these people who talk about their close affinity to General Musharraf enjoyed the pelf and perks when he was in power and they sucked up to him. Now that he is out of power, they have found the courage to denounce everything that he did.
Being an army man, he could not have been an expert on many subjects but he was at least aware of what was troubling Pakistan and had the guts to go out and find solutions. How many of these self-styled, power-hungry politicians have spent any of their precious time to seriously analyse the country’s problems and find workable solutions?
As for dragging Musharraf into court, Nawaz Sharif and all the other malcontents should stop ranting about it and be thankful to Almighty Allah that despite the deal that NZ made with the Pakistan government for a 10-year banishment from Pakistan, Musharraf let him come back earlier.
NZ’s statement that he does not hold any grudge against Musharraf is a great lie because it is more than obvious that he is driven by the fire of vindictiveness and he and Iftikhar Chaudhry will take their Badla from Musharraf at all costs.
NZ’s full time professional sycophants like Tehmina Daultana should stop shrieking about Musharraf’s trial because he simply imposed Emergency while General Yahya Khan allowed the country to be spliced into half with the creation of Bangladesh. Call for his posthumous trial and call for the trial of Ayub Khan and Ziaul Haq for imposing Martial Law and throwing the Constitution of Pakistan into the dustbin.
Also, please ask Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhry to answer to all the allegations of corruption made against him in the Reference that was sent to the Judicial Council by Musharraf and that started it all.
yasserlatifhamdani says:

July 25, 2009 at 5:07 pm

I know the soldier in question and Musharraf is not 1/10th the man he is…

He took his retirement and was never part of the perks party.
Muhammad Hassan Miraj says:

July 25, 2009 at 7:25 pm

the soldier in question is right about many things and the institutional things is also too correct. I hope and pray to live to see the day when he is under trial. Inshallah. The larger mindset from the institution continues to believe that the coup was an innocent attempt on PMs part to save his country, which he, given his untainted loyalty, could not see being run by stupid businessmen, never mind if they ever had 98% mandate thing.
How could somebody do the same mistakes thrice…
creating NAB
Having a banker-finance minister
creating a third grade league..
We hope nobody does it fourth time..
bonobashi says:

July 25, 2009 at 7:53 pm

@PMA

If you examine the annals of PTH with some attention, you will find that many more Pakistanis ridicule and demonise the defence forces of Pakistan than Indians do.

A simple count will suffice.

Never miss a chance, do they?
yasserlatifhamdani says:

July 25, 2009 at 8:16 pm

Hossp is Pakistani as well btw.
koschan says:

July 26, 2009 at 5:36 am

I dont know what is it, but i like musharraf.I realize that he brutalized balochis , did a kargil on my nation , spoiled the Agra party but there is something rambo about him that is cool(NDTV never misses to show his pistol testing, cigar smoking clip)
.Perhaps it is his charisma or his airs or his bellicosity. The man visits india, faces interrogation from indian audience at the taj hotel , hears lectures about communalism from indian muslims like MP MADNI ,gets his big check from arun poorie and departs from india smilingly. Compare him to zia who when he visited india during a nam summit, kept aloof and got embarrassed when he was caught talking to himself in the room’s corner.
Recommendation:i esp like his interview to bbc ,given immediately after the 1999 coup(the man answered some really tough live questions from indians and pakis).i saw it three yrs ago, i dont know if bbc website still has it.
yasserlatifhamdani says:

July 26, 2009 at 6:22 am

Koschan,

Musharraf is a charismatic fellow no doubt that…

I’ll tell you we were all taken by him for atleast 3 years or so.

I would still choose cigar smoking Musharraf over that MP Madni anyday. Freaks and Mullahs like Madni are a sad face of Indian secularism.
MANSOOR TIRMIZI says:

July 27, 2009 at 1:52 pm

1. PAKISTAN ARMY IS ALSO THE INSTITUTION OF RESEARCH AS WELL. THE HIGH LEVEL ARMY MEN ARE MORE THAN EXPERTS IN ANALYSING INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND SECURITY ISSUE AS COMPARED TO OUR MOBOCRATIC LEADERS LIKE NZ, BB AND ZARDARI ETC. ARMY OFFICER KNOWS FAR BETTER OF POLITICS AND SECURITIES THAN CIVILIANS,

2. KARGIL ISSUE WAS IN RESPONSE TO THE BETRAYAL BY NZ IN UNITED NATIONS WHEN HE DID NOT MENTION OF KASHMIR AT ALL. BUT MUSHARRAF NOT ONLY INTERNATIONALIZE THE ISSUE BUT HE ALSO CAME VICTORIOUS FROM AAGRAH.

3. PEOPLE WHO ALWAYS KEEP CRITICISING ON PAKISTAN ARMY ARE NOT AGAINST PAKISTAN HONESTLY BUT THEY ARE BEING BEFOOLED BY INDIAN AND MULLAH MEDIA.

4. ALL CIVILIAN PARTIES ARE ESTABLISHED IN ARMY ERA. LIKE PPP IN AYUB KHAN’S ERA. PML’S LEADERSHIP (ESPECIALLY NZ) AND MQM IN ZIA’S ERA. IFTIKHAR CHAUDHRY WAS MADE CHIEF JUSTICE UNDER PCO BY MUSHARRAF. WHY DONT WE DENOUNCE THEM AT ALL?? WHY DO WE ABUSE DEMOCRACY BY CALLING THEM DEMOCRATS?? WHY DONT WE DENOUNCE IFTIKHAR CHAUDHRY FOR BECOMING CHIEF JUSTICE ON PCO?? WHY PPP. PML AND MQM DONT HOLD ELECTIONS IN THEIR OWN PARTIES IF THEY ARE DEMOCRATS??

5. MUSHARRAF NEVER BETRAYED PAKISTAN AT ALL. HE TOOK BLAME OF EVERYTHING TO SAVE PAKISTAN. HE WAS GOD-GIFTED BUT WE REFUSED TO ACCEPT THE GIFT FROM ALLAH-THE ALMIGHTY.

6. HAD MUSHARRAF BEEN AMERICAN AGENT, AMERICA MUST HAVE SUPPORTED HIM FOR SOME MORE DECADES LIKE SADDAM AND MUAMMAR QAZZAFI ETC.

7. MUSHARRAF WAS STILL POPULAR AMOUNG THE MASSES WHEN HE ACTUALLY RESIGNED. THOUGH PML-Q LOST THE NUMBER OF SEATS BUT IT GAINED THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF VOTES FROM THE WHOLE COUNTRY. AND WHEN MQM’S VOTES ARE ADDED THEY HAVE ACTUALLY WON THE PEOPLE’S CONFIDENCE.

I PREY FROM THE DEPTH OF MY HEART THAT MAY ALLAH ACCEPT HIS SACRIFICE FOR NATION OF PAKISTAN.