ISLAMABAD: The special court on Thursday has issued the detailed verdict of high treason case against former president and General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf.
The registrar office of special court has handed over the copies of verdict, consisting 169 pages, to Pervez Musharraf’s lawyers and other parties in the case.
Justice Nazar Akbar opposed the verdict of sentencing Pervez Musharraf to death and cleared him of the accusations while Justice Waqar Seth and Justice Shahid Karim handed him the death penalty. The detailed verdict has been termed as first of its kind.
“We are of the considered view that the accused in this High Treason case has been afforded more than his due share of fair trial. The protected trial of a constitutional and not any ordinary offence that began six years ago in 2013, has yet to see its end in 2019. The accused, who has been given every opportunity to defend himself, has by his conduct in the proceedings only evinced his utter contempt for the law and legal institutions in this country. The facts of this case are well documented. The documents clearly demonstrate the guilt on the part of the accused. It proves beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt all the charges of High Treason leveled against accused by the State.
“It is patent by the act and conduct of the accused facing trial, that he has persistently and stubbornly strived ever since the commencement of this trial, to delay, retract and in fact evade it. It has been his plea throughout that either on account of ill health or for security hazards he could not reach up to this Court to face trial,” said the judgement.
“As a necessary corollary to what has been observed we find the accused guilty as per charge. The convict be therefore hanged by his neck till he dies on each count as per charge.
“We direct the Law Enforcement Agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan and be hanged for 03 days.”
Soon after the short order was issued on Tuesday, Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor said the verdict was received with a “lot of pain and anguish” by Pakistan Army, according to Director-General of the Inter-Services
Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor.
The federal government, too, had expressed its reservations, saying the requirements for a fair trial under Article 10-A were not fulfilled in the case.
Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan had made it clear that the government will not oppose an appeal against the special court’s verdict.
Meanwhile, the seasoned lawyer Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan commented while referring a judge’s words in the verdict against Pervez Musharraf in high treason case, has said: “A live person can be hanged but not a dead body under the law of the land”.
The remarks by the judges could provide basis for an appeal (against the decision), he said.
The special court has released a detailed verdict of the case on Thursday.
On December 17, the special court had awarded death sentence to former president Pervez Musharraf in the high treason case against him.
“An inquiry should be initiated against the judge who has written this order,” Aitzaz Ahsan said. The legal capability of the judge should also be taken into account who has written this judgment,” he further said.- NNI