Poor old Pervez Musharraf cut a sorry figure at a gala event held at the grand Presidency building in Islamabad on the eve of Pakistan’s 61st Independence Day. As the prospect of impeachment by the Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition stared him in the face, the once all-powerful military ruler sat placidly through colourful song and dance performances by top artists, puffing on a cigar and occasionally exchanging a few words with former caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomroo.
The sofa next to Musharraf was virtually empty. The President’s close ally, PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, occupied the end of the sofa farthest from Musharraf, and did not even deign to look at the military strongman. Musharraf’s speech, though, was full of his typical bravado and he even took on alleged excesses by Indian troops in Jammu and Kashmir. But there was not a word on his future – a subject most Pakistanis, who stayed up even after midnight to hear his speech, wanted to hear about.