I am conscious that the media and a vast majority of the country are certainly not going to be very receptive to praising anything related to former President Pervez Musharraf. However, to give the devil his due; the former President has notched up a very impressive fan club (at least in the digital world) on the social networking site, Facebook. With 134,000 members, President Musharraf arguably is the most popular Pakistani on the social community. In comparison, the second closest political leader is Imran Khan with 40,000 fans. Nawaz Sharif, in contrast to his dominant popularity, only has 6,500 fans. Our incumbent President also seems to be featured very dominantly, though for reasons not very polite to mention! Musharraf also beats celebrities like Atif Aslam (125,000), Junoon (14,000), Bilawal (2,200) and Laal group (3,000).
Facebook fan club statistics are not as insignificant as it may seem to the causal eye. After all, Obama’s revolutionary network was built on a Facebook platform and the co-founder of Facebook was a member of his campaign team. Similarly, the social networking platform became a powerful networking tool during the recent crisis in Iran, and earlier during riots in Tibet. Arguably and rather ironically, the first catalyst for using Facebook for political and social activism in Pakistan was the imposition of emergency by President Musharraf. Incidentally, I had a role in triggering it when I, along with my colleague Tahir Mansoori from Oxford, launched the group: “We Oppose Emergency in Pakistan”. Within weeks, the group had more than 14,000 members and became the focal point and hub of social activism for the judiciary movement. Our Facebook group got featured in newspapers around the world and was credited for sparking a “social revolution”. To my surprise and also delight, the online campaign we launched has become a part of case study and research studies in top US universities. However, my point here is not to indulge in self-praise but to highlight a point that if our Facebook group only had 16,000 members at its peak (now has 10,000+), President Musharraf with direct contact and access to 134,000 Pakistanis can have immense opportunity.
President Musharraf always had immense opportunity. To give him credit, the General (Retired) has been extremely good at creating and capturing moments of opportunity – but somehow has managed to lose on execution. As an Army General and Chief of the Army Staff in the post nuclear tests era, General Musharraf had a historic opportunity to reform and restructure the army, since the existence of nuclear deterrence made traditional outdated. The political leadership with Nawaz Sharif at the helm in Pakistan was successful in signing the Lahore Agreement with the Vajpai-led BJP government in India and the prospects of peace in South Asia seemed at their brightest. However, General Musharraf missed out on this opportunity with the Kargil operation, and later, by politically entangling with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. After the coup, General Musharraf had the opportunity of holding fair elections in the country but instead he declared himself the Chief Executive and derailed the political process. Again, as the Chief Executive and then President, he got an opportunity of bringing institutional reforms – where he was very successful on the economic front – but had lesser success on the political side, probably due to holding on to the incumbent political structure. He lost the opportunity of relying on a political brass which was corrupt to the teeth and later by accommodating the army in every civilian institution he could get hold of. Men in uniform ended up running everything, from universities to anti-corruption courts (NAB) to steel and power plants. Towards the end of his time, Musharraf ruined the opportunity of a fair and smooth transition to democracy by committing the most draconian, and perhaps an unforgivable crime, by signing the NRO. After the legacy of NRO, there can be, or at least there should be no redemption to his political career, however that does not excuse him from his national responsibility.
As a former President of the country for eight years, as a former Chief of Army, as a former soldier and as a Pakistani, Musharraf certainly has responsibilities to the country. I think even Musharraf’s fiercest critics would recognise his strengths of global recognition, strong personal brand, unrivalled insight and contacts with global leaders and institutions. His Facebook group shows a strong ability to connect with the youth. Personally, I cannot see a better person to represent Pakistan internationally and to rally for domestic causes.
I understand that our potential future Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif wants nothing less but to hang Musharraf to get even for the ordeal he and his family had to go through, but that would be a great loss for the country. At a time when every man counts, Musharraf is certainly an asset which the country can use. Correspondingly, Musharraf has immense opportunity to do well for the country. However, this opportunity would be wasted if he decides to enter politics and run for elections.
I hope Musharraf leverages his huge contact base to go one step further and do philanthropic and social development work for Pakistan. Imagine this: if everyone on Musharraf’s fan club donates just 100 rupees per year for social work in the country, he can collect Rs. 13.4 million! Of course, this is just a hypothetical scenario but indeed, if he leverages his global contact base and personal skill set, Pervez Musharraf can potentially create the largest social development and philanthropic institution for the country. He can single handedly set up a network of schools and hospitals, and set up trusts and grants and to truly help the people of the country. He can create a legacy which can live longer than his lifetime and can alone exculpate him for his earlier blunders. Pervez Musharraf can be the Cecil Rhodes for Pakistan in education, or the Yunus of microfinance, or the next Edhi! The opportunity and the potential is immense. Indeed, one can argue that our current political elite also include billionaires and this appeal for social work and for giving back to the country can also be made to them. However, I don’t live in a fool’s paradise and as the urdu adage goes, can differentiate between a horse and a mule.
If unwisely, Musharraf goes down the political route, I think his fate would be similar to the likes of George Galloway or Imran Khan. I hope he doesn’t end up like Imran Khan, the politician, but rather choose to emulate Imran Khan, the philanthropist, because certainly this is what our country needs and this is where his new opportunity lies.
