The return of Musharraf

The army wants nothing to do with Musharraf, his followers have lost hope-so who and what exactly is he returning for?

Zahrah Mazhar March 07, 2013
Some Hollywood sequels hold the promise of becoming big ticket numbers, especially if their heroes are of world-saving ilk.

The Dark Knight, Terminator 2 and even Die Hard 2 are examples of movies whose characters struck such a chord with the audience that people couldn’t wait for them to return to fight the big, bad villains.

Pakistan is not short of characters, and not necessarily fictitious ones, who are chomping at the bit to make a comeback. Their desire to return to the spotlight is, however, not necessarily a reflection of audience demand.Their promos and trailers have been running forever and the release date keeps getting pushed back.

A case in point is the return of the general — former president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf.

Ever since his departure in 2008, Musharraf has been making announcements of returning to Pakistan. The most recent one was made on March 1 when he said he would catch a flight within a week after the interim government took control.

Whether or not he sticks to his plan this time, Musharraf has to take into consideration whether the audience still wants to hear his confident speeches and give him another shot at saving Pakistan.

The first Musharraf episode may have started with some avid fans and hopes for a happy ending, but somewhere in the middle, by suspending the chief justice of Pakistan, ordering the Lal Masjid Operation and imposing emergency rule in 2007, the end of his presidency was an anticlimax.

Now, the army — original producers of General (retd) Musharraf — appears to want nothing to do with him, and his followers are not sure if he can undo the destruction left in his wake.

So who again is Musharraf hoping to make a comeback for?

The question the general needs to ask himself is this:

How much value can a comeback hold if the audience has no interest in wasting their time with a sequel?

Read more by Zahrah here.
WRITTEN BY:
Zahrah Mazhar The author is a senior sub-editor on the Karachi Desk at The Express Tribune.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (4)

Maria | 11 years ago | Reply @Bilal: I agree that Musharraf should come back but I feel that he should be arrested and promptly lead to jail. Only such an action will send a strong message to people who think that having a gun is the only way to change a government. We all saw how how a decade of his dictatorship only caused more trouble for Pakistan. I am glad that people now understand that the only way to build a better future is to vote out bad leaders with their vote and using constitutional means- not by attacking the capital with armed men like Musharraf did. Musharraf needs to answer for what he did which is termed treason in all societies. Incidentally while it is Musharraf's right to return to Pakistan and face justice, the nation is not his "birthright"; Musharraf was born in India and his family migrated to Pakistan.
Mohammad | 11 years ago | Reply it is Musharraf's birthright whatever sequel he wants to make and it's up to the audience what reception they want to give.... those who have seen his previous episode and analyze that episode with the PPP/PMLN drama, can expect that Musharraf's sequel will bring more entertainment than anyone else. We wish Musharraf all the success, to bring the Pakistani pride back.
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