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Musharraf's turn to face the flak

Nirupama Subramanian

The criticism against the General's book is perhaps a lesson for the next controversial leader who wants to write his or her autobiography, especially while still in office.

ONE RISK of writing memoirs — especially one as self-glorifying and dismissive of most others as In the Line of Fire — as opposed to a novel is that the characters can hit back. General Pervez Musharraf's book has been described by critics as a work of fiction, but the people in it are still real, and they are certainly not letting the grass grow under the things he has said about them.

As expected, Pakistan's Opposition leaders immediately trashed the book. But others who feel maligned by the book are also coming out with their side of the story. Among them is Dina Khan, daughter of Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's foremost nuclear scientist, revered in the country as the "father" of its nuclear bomb, but now in the "protective custody" — a euphemism for house arrest — of the Pakistan Government for his role in nuclear proliferation. President Musharraf had earlier described him as a "hero" for Pakistan, but made a U-turn in the book by calling him a self-serving egotist. Ms. Khan has lashed out publicly against the author for making "ludicrous" charges against her father.

The book alleges that when Pakistan began investigations into the scientist's proliferation activities, intelligence agencies intercepted a letter by him to his daughter, who lives in London, "containing detailed instructions" for her to go public on Pakistan's nuclear secrets through certain British journalists.

Ms. Khan, speaking to BBC, has said the letter was addressed to her mother and "gave details of what had really happened." According to her, these details were intended to be released in case her father was killed or made to disappear.

According to her, the letter mentioned "people and places" but contained no nuclear secrets. She said Pakistan closed the investigation into her father's case months ago but his situation continued unchanged in the hope that he would "rot quietly at home."

"That will never happen. The truth will come out eventually, it always does," she said.

A general who was in line to become Army chief but retired after General Musharraf superseded him, and who is described in the book as an officer who advocated a military takeover in 1998, has also come up with a different version of the story.

Lt. General (retd.) Ali Kuli Khan Khattak, who said he had kept to himself all these years but was forced by the book to come out in the open, had a page-by-page rejoinder published in The News on Wednesday.

According to him, he never made a case for military rule as alleged by General Musharraf when the Army came into confrontation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Government, but only wanted that it "should be firm and fair in dealing with all situations."

He said while he advised General Jehangir Karamat not to step down as Army chief following the confrontation, at no stage did he argue for a military coup. He points out that it was General Musharraf who carried out a coup.

Listing the book's "numerous lies, half-truths and misleading statements," Lt. Gen. Khattak, a course mate of General Musharraf at the Pakistan Military Academy, says the President was not in the shortlist of four Pakistan Military Academy cadets for Sandhurst as he has claimed in the book nor was he in the top ten of that particular course. He was placed 11 in the order of merit.

Kargil claims

On Kargil, he says "it is fairly obvious that the Kargil Operations were not conceived in its totality, with the result that apart from bringing ignominy to Pakistan, it also caused unnecessary misery to a lot of innocent people.

"I regret to say that the conception and planning at the highest level had been poor; in fact so poor that the only word which can adequately describe it is unprofessional."

The portions on Kargil have upset as many people in Pakistan as in India, if not more. Pakistan's Foreign Minister during the Kargil Operation, Sartaj Aziz, rejected President Musharraf's claim in his memoirs that it was a military victory that was lost by the politicians.

"I do not agree with General Musharraf's view in his book that it was Kargil that helped bring back the Kashmir issue into international focus. In fact, Kargil led to the disruption of the Lahore process initiated by Nawaz Sharif and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The military takeover completely destroyed the process," Mr. Aziz told the BBC's Hindi service.

He also asserted that on the date that General Musharraf says the Prime Minister and the Cabinet were informed of the yet-to-take-place Kargil operation in a meeting, there was no mention of it.

"I was present in that meeting. Discussion was held regarding the road disruption along Neelum Valley and the possibility of an alternate road. Kargil was not mentioned at this meeting," he said.

Mr. Aziz denied that Mr. Sharif abandoned what General Musharraf says was a victory for the military at Kargil in the U.S.

"It was Nawaz Sharif who during his visit to Washington when the conflict was on, resolved the matter in a way that benefited both India and Pakistan," he said.

Perhaps there is a lesson in all this for the next controversial leader who wants to write his or her autobiography, especially while still in office. Just say it's a novel, and for good measure, throw in that line about "any resemblance to people dead or alive or real events is purely coincidental."

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