Divided Debate On Ailing Gen Musharraf.

Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher acknowledged for vigorously questioning Hegelian rationalism, is believed to have once said: 'The real freedom is to appreciate your limits.' Judging by this standard, former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani sounded like the most 'liberated' politician of Pakistan. But first I need to explain the context.

After much cajoling, General Musharraf finally agreed to resign after holding the election in 2008. Until then, he had been ruling Pakistan with absolute authority as a military dictator since 1999. His enthusiastic joining the American-led 'War on Terrorism' provoked a deadly blowback in Pakistan, leading to thousands of deaths. Under his watch, hundreds of 'terrorists' were also handed over to the Americans for soul-breaking interrogation in the dungeons of countries not known for respecting human rights.

With a peculiar version of 'enlightened moderation,' General Musharraf had also tried to act like a caring patriarch, committed to provide Pakistan with 'true and not sham democracy by grooming it from the grassroots.' But before reaching there, he forced two leading politicians, Nawaz Sharif and Ms. Benazir Bhutto, to live for many years in exile.

In the end, however, he felt forced to strike a deal with Ms. Bhutto and desired to co-opt her in his system. The deal couldn't take off, because the first woman prime minister of the Muslim world was murdered by a group of brutal terrorists in Rawalpindi while campaigning for elections on December 2007. Her murder led to the formation of a government led by her party, Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) in 2008 and it was just not willing to work with Musharraf.

He had to resign and left the Presidential palace. After spending some time in his expansive farmhouse in a posh suburb of Islamabad, he left for Dubai and planned returning to active politics with a bang. Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif had returned to the Prime Minister's Office after the election of 2013. Musharraf had toppled his second government in October 1997. But Nawaz Sharif was not so keen to punish him for that.

The Supreme Court led by Iftikhar Chaudhry was not willing to forget and forgive, however. He pressured the Nawaz government to try him for enforcing 'Emergency-plus' in November 2007, perceived as the imposition of second martial law by General Musharraf. After much hesitation, the Nawaz government eventually felt compelled to invoke Article 6 of our Constitution, prescribing severe...