By Manish Chand

Shorn of his military uniform and his power diminished by the Feb. 18 general election, President Pervez Musharraf has literally vanished from the two dozen TV news channels that used to hang on to his every word and gesture for the nearly eight years that he ruled Pakistan.

Switch on any of the news channels in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, and it is the new civilian rulers of Pakistan who are basking in the media spotlight and not the once all-powerful, media-savvy general.

President Musharraf’s face is now only briefly flashed on TV screens when there is a story speculating about whether a deal was struck to get rid of the man who had exiled the men who eventually beat him out, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.

There is no deliberate news blackout of Musharraf. But those who call the shots for the networks are perhaps getting back at the man who brought in a special ordinance to crack down on defiant journalists after the imposition of emergency rule in November of last year.

Nobody in the media is missing General Musharraf much. "We are much freer now than we were in the previous regime," said a reporter, who prefers anonymity, from Waqt TV, reflecting the changing atmosphere after a new civilian government was formed three months ago.

A big question mark hangs around Musharraf’s future. "Politicians are at the centre of the media stage. And that’s the way it should be. The focus should be on them, rather than on Musharraf," Shireen Mazari, who previously headed the Institute of Strategic Studies.

Columnist Ayaz Amir, a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member of the National Assembly, said the military establishment remains influential in Pakistan, but Musharraf is "not that much relevant now".

Amir recalled how Musharraf used the media as a springboard to float unconventional ideas for resolving the Kashmir issue with India. "Musharraf would toss his ideas on Kashmir to the media. He was good at these gestures and photo-ops and he knew how to play the media," said Amir.

Ironically, the current media explosion in Pakistan is a result of Musharraf’s decision to lift the ban on media ownership in 2000, spawning a host of new channels competing with each other

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which leads the ruling coalition, is reportedly trying to push a deal under which Musharraf can offer to resign and go out quietly in return for indemnity for his unconstitutional action on Nov. 3 when he proclaimed the emergency.

Others say Musharraf is in no mood to call it a day. Musharraf has got key figures including former information minister Muhammad Ali Durrani, in the Pakistan Muslim League ready to rally support in the Senate and the National Assembly to counter any move to dislodge him.

Musharraf has said he has no plans to resign.