The General Goes Home

Overview

In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the family of filmmaker Mohammed Naqvi belonged to a Muslim minority that suffered discrimination and persecution. Corrupt or incompetent presidents of the republic consistently failed to protect them. But then in 1999, the secular general Pervez Musharraf seized power, and went on to rule as a dictator for eight years. It was a period in which, for the first time in his life, Naqvi felt safe in his own country. With the support of the West, Musharraf endeavored to prevent post-9/11 Pakistan from becoming a "terrorist state." When Naqvi came to vote in a democratic election for the first time, he faced a dilemma: should he vote for a corrupt politician, a religious fanatic who supported the Taliban, or for a general who came to power undemocratically in 1999?