'Musharraf could face fresh legal jeopardy'

Islamabad, Dec 24: Pakistan’s former military strongman General Pervez Musharraf could face “renewed legal jeopardy”, a leading Pakistani daily said on Thursday. An editorial “Musharraf’s emergency” in the Dawn said that Musharraf has told “the FIA (Federal Investigation Agency) that the November 2007 emergency was the result of a vast consultative exercise, imposed on the advice of then-prime minister Shaukat Aziz and approved by soon-to-be army chief General Ashfaq Kayani, among many other senior political and military functiories at the time.”

The daily described it as “a rather extraordiry and thoroughly self-inflicted descent into ignominy”. It said: “Gen Musharraf, it seems, was so enfeebled that he could not possibly have acted on his own - at least as far as he himself can tell. The November 2007 emergency required principal offenders, aiders, abettors and collaborators so numerous that it is - again according to Gen Musharraf - simply wrong and unfair to target him alone”.

Calling it “an unbelievable tale”, the daily said that Gen Musharraf had handpicked Aziz and Gen Kayani for the slots of prime minister and army chief, respectively.

It went on to say that while “it has been apparent for a while that Prime Minister waz Sharif’s bid to have Gen Musharraf tried for treason has been delayed, and likely blocked, by the military establishment, the prime minister has not given any indication that he is willing to let Gen Musharraf simply walk free”. (ians)