Musharraf’s lack of healing ability has become obvious in several other self-serving statements. He says he would step down if the people wanted him to quit but he refuses to identify the method whereby the people’s wishes would be determined.

He does not accept opinion polls that show 67 per cent Pakistanis wanting him out. In the civilised world, a free and fair election is the only way to find out what the people want. Musharraf refuses to concede a free election. The Citizens Group on Electoral Process (CGEP), in its recent report, has termed the pre-poll electoral process in Pakistan highly unfair, giving it a score of 26 on a scale of 100 in respect of overall fairness of the pre-poll environment spanning over 12 months.

The judiciary is not free to pronounce on the fairness or otherwise of the election. When Musharraf alone can decide what the people want, how will the people ever be able to tell him that they no longer want him?

The thoughtful US politician, Senator Joseph Lieberman, understood the problem with the election process in one visit to Pakistan, something Musharraf is unable to do after running the country for eight years. Lieberman said, “Opposition parties have little trust the polls will be fair. If there are some bases after the elections for concluding that they were not fair and credible, the consequences, I fear here in Pakistan, will be more division and not the unity that the country needs at this critical moment in its history, facing a serious external threat, now increasing, from Al Qaeda.”

... contd.