Like me, if you thought Musharraff’s guest column in Rajeev’s almanack a joke, you might want to think again. Here is what he says in his guest column:
I am Pakistan’s Lincoln. He suspended habeas corpus, I suspended the whole constitution. Same difference. I am Pakistan’s Gandhi. He disobeyed laws that he considered unjust and so do I. I am Pakistan’s Savior. Jesus Christ was a victim of Judicial Activism by Pontius Pilate. So am I the victim of extreme Judicial Activism by one Chaudhary.
Here is what Hindu reports him as having said:
Comparing his situation with that of Lincoln, Gen. Musharraf read out his quotation justifying imposition of martial law in 1864. “The justification was necessity,” he said.
Quoting Lincoln, he said life cannot be put to risk for a limb and sometimes a limb had to be amputated to save life.
In any case, I am happy that Musharraf is keeping himself abreast of what Lincoln wrote. As the Tamil writer Jayakanthan titled one of his short stories, சாத்தானும் வேதம் ஓதட்டுமே (Let the Devil also read the scriptures).
