Pakistan government has decided to try country’s former military ruler Parvez Musharraf for high treason for imposing emergency on November 3, 2007. The country’s opposition parties have questioned timing of the move.
Islamabad, Nov 18/Nationalturk – Pakistan government has decided to try country’s former military ruler and president General (Retd) Parvez Musharraf, who was released recently from eight month’s long house arrest, for high treason for imposing emergency on November 3, 2007. The country’s opposition parties have questioned timing of the move.
“Following the judgment of Supreme Court in 2012 and a report submitted by inquiry committee of country’s investigative agency (FIA), it has been decided to start high treason proceedings against Pervez Musharraf under Article 6 of Pakistan’s Constitution for imposing emergency on November 3, 2007,” Pakistan’s Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told media.
The former military dictator overthrew the Nawaz Sharif government in a bloodless military coup in October 1999, but a year later the Supreme Court validated the takeover. In November 2007, Musharraf imposed emergency rule second time, suspending the Constitution and sacking the top judges who declared his actions unconstitutional and illegal. He lifted the emergency on December 15, 2007.
Khan said the government would write a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan and request him to constitute a tribunal of judges from three high courts to start proceedings against Musharraf for high treason.
‘Musharraf committed crimes against people, constitution of Pakistan’
He said Musharraf had committed crimes against people of Pakistan and the Constitution. “Nobody, not even the prime minister, could pardon him”.
The Supreme Court had last year referred the matter to Pakistan government to initiate a high-treason case against the former army chief for holding the Constitution in abeyance twice.
Pakistan’s interior minister claimed absolute fairness in the FIA-led inquiry against the former army chief, who at present is a free man after securing bails in multiple cases. “The government was going by the book and would present the report of the inquiry before the special court.”
Asked what action would be taken against people in the then civilian government and military establishment who had helped Gen Musharraf in the imposition of the emergency, he said, “It’s too early to say anything because the three-member special court would take up the case.”
Musharraf is the first military ruler of the Pakistan to face the high treason case in the country’s military history.
According to legal experts, Article 6 of Pakistan constitution reads, 1[(1)-Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or holds in abeyance or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason. “Any person aiding or abetting or collaborating with any person in the commission of acts mentioned in clause (1) shall likewise be guilty of high treason. 3[(2A)-An act of high treason mentioned in clause (1) or clause (2) shall not be validated by any court, including the Supreme Court and a high court. (3) 4- Parliament shall by law provide for the punishment of persons found guilty of high treason.”
‘Musharraf became a free main this month’
Musharraf technically became a free man on November 7 this year when an Islamabad district court granted him bail over a deadly raid on a radical mosque in the capital in 2007.
He returned to Pakistan in March after remaining in self exile for nearly four years. However, after his return, he was barred from contesting the general elections, which were won by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the man he ousted from power in 1999.
He was arrested and booked under different charges. He faces charges of assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto after an election rally in Liaquat Bagh Rawalpindi in 2007, death of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and detention of judges.
He was put under house arrest in April this year in an unprecedented move against a former army chief in a country where the military holds huge powers. Though he was granted bail in all cases, his name is still on the Exit Control List (ECL).
‘Pakistan’s opposition questioning timing of govt move’
Pakistan’s opposition parties termed the government’s move to start high treason case against Musharras as a diversionary tactic from sectarian killings in Rawalpindi on 15th of this month.
Pakistan’s main opposition party PPP senior leader Qamer Zaman Kaira questioned the timing of the government’s move.
“Choosing this time to initiate a treason case against Musharraf seems to be a tactic to divert public attention from the current chaos. The government should come up with facts instead of taking superficial measures to cover up the Rawalpindi tragedy,” he said.
He said if the government is really interested in punishing Gen Musharraf, then it should try him for the 1999 coup when he toppled a democratically elected government and abrogated the Constitution
Pakistan’s parliament member and Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the government could not single out Musharraf for treason trial, which had to start from October 12, 1999 rather from November 3, 2007.
He said by going ahead with trial of Musharraf at his pint of time, the government only wanted to divert people’s attention from sectarian killings near Pakistan’s capital and garrison city Rawalpindi.
Senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Jahangir Tarin said at a time when the government should focus on the Rawalpindi tragedy, it was feeding the media with such stories.
Another PTI leader and Pakistan’s former External Affairs minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his party was surprised by the timing the government chose to initiate the treason case. “Why the government took up this issue at this time when the entire nation is in a state on shock over sectarian violence in Rawalpindi?”
He said his party supported initiating a treason case against the former dictator, but it should have been done earlier or some time later.
‘Vicious attempt to undermine Pakistan military’
A spokesman of former military ruler Gen (Retd) Pervez Musharraf has termed the government’s decision to initiate high treason trial against him as “a vicious attempt to undermine the Pakistani military”.
“We not only forcefully reject these charges, but also view them as a vicious attempt to undermine the Pakistani military. It is also a botched attempt by the government to temporarily take the focus away from existential threats faced by Pakistan,” said Dr Raza Bokhari, international spokesman and North American point of contact for Gen Musharraf.
He said they view with grave suspicion the timing of the announcement by the Taliban sympathetic Nawaz government to initiate treason proceedings against former president Musharraf. “It was unfortunate that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was obsessed by politics of personal vendetta” and was “criminalising the lawful acts of the Musharraf government”.
Bokhari said it was important to note that the former president had acted after unanimous advice of the then prime minister, governors of all the four provinces, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, chiefs of the armed forces, vice-chief of the army staff and the corps commanders of the Pakistan Army.
“It is also extremely important to remember that former president Musharraf also lifted the state of emergency on Dec 15, 2007, and fully restored the constitution,” he added.
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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk Pakistan News
