During his disastrous nine-year reign as 'Chief Executive' (1999) and then President (2001) of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf ran roughshod over his people's democratic rights, while forces under his command committed numerous acts of torture and mass-killing. He was also a willing western client, giving US forces a free hand to operate on Pakistani territory, co-operating with the infamous 'rendition' programme, torturing terror suspects on request, and occasionally helping to whitewash US involvement in air strikes on civilian targets in Northern Pakistan (eg:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/nov/01/pakistan.declanwalsh).

Now that Musharraf has - despite the best efforts of the US and Britain - finally been forced from office, the UK Ambassador, "Sir" Mark Lyall Grant has been deployed to try to ensure that he is granted immunity from prosecution over his crimes. As is the norm whenever the international diplomatic community pulls out all the stops to save a politician from facing justice (and deny justice to victims of serious human rights abuse), this is being cynically spun as an effort to avoid 'confrontation' and preserve 'peace':  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7571883.stm

Pakistan's pro-democracy movement is having none of it, however, pointing out that in reality, cutting impunity deals with organised criminals is a surefire way of ensuring more of the same a few years down the line.

Please help defend the rights of Musharraf's many victims by calling the UK Foreign Office to account over Mark Lyall Grant's disgusting manoeuvres. Please write to your MP via  http://writetothem.com, urging them to lobby the Foreign Office to call off the dogs and let justice take its course.