Musharraf following Fujimori

The people of the sub-continent seldom seem familiar with the contours of South American political scene. It may be useful to analyse therefore in my today's column the sheer identical nature of the rise and fall of Fujimori with the political fortunes of Musharraf. They had some common elements into their induction and evolution into the politics of their respective countries. Both were not born in the territories of countries where they rose to the political might of power but were immigrants; both were then eventually to become the head of governments in Peru and Pakistan with the direct help of the military; throughout their tenures the facade of elections and democracy was kept up as a charade; finally both of them fell foul of the their national judiciary to ensure their drastic actions against the judges. Like Pervez Musharraf, Alberto Ken'ya Fujimore disbanded the countries' judiciary more than once.
Musharraf has literally played havoc with the country's legal system and that of its political institutions, its constitution, rights of women and of minorities with the liberty of hundreds if not thousands of its citizens. However his demeaning humiliation of the nation's judiciary, the chief justice on the realm and with the legal community has earned him the abysmal degradation in the eyes of the rest of the world.
In the face of a sweeping rebuff in the elections from the two parties and their leadership that he tried to illegally keep out of the country the president has still not given up his determination to allow the nation to carry on its evolution to a road towards constitutionalism He seems poised all the time to not show simple prudence, which may not come easily to the erstwhile general, as he keeps on insisting on remaining in office without willingly permitting the deposed judges to get back into their offices in a dignified manner.
In 1990, an unknown candidate named Alberto Fujimori rode a wave of support led by the local army to become the president of Peru. He fought an all-out war on terror against the guerrilla organisation Shining Path, and won. Because of his "war on terror", he got all the support that was needed in terms of funds and influence from Washington and other major Western countries. Then he became the supreme commander of the army while not being even a soldier. For almost eight years, like Musharraf, he ruled the country in absolute dictatorship until the judges started to get restive. He thereupon dismissed the judges, at least twice en block! Then democratic forces took control. His handpicked judges began to assert their newly found independence.
Ten years later from his ascendancy into power, he stood accused of kidnapping, murder and corruption; he fled from Peru to Japan, where he lived in exile for four years. A Peruvian Supreme Court judge convicted Fujimori of abuse of authority and sentenced him to six years in prison just two years ago in the first criminal conviction for Fujimori, who also faces human rights and corruption charges. Supreme Court Justice Pedro Guillermo Urbina declared Fujimori guilty of abusing his power for ordering an illegal search as his government imploded in scandal seven years ago. He also fined Fujimori the equivalent of $134,900 The former president was convicted of having a military aide serve as a prosecutor and search without a warrant the luxury apartment of the wife of his spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos in November 2000.