Pakistanˈs Ex-President Musharraf Faces High Treason Charges

Islamabad, June 25, IRNA – Pakistani Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, on Monday announced that his government will pursue high treason case against former military President Pervez Musharraf in the Supreme Court for abrogating the country’s constitution when he imposed emergency rule in November 2007. Sharif’s statement in the parliament came shortly after the Supreme Court asked the Attorney General to inform the apex court about its stand on the trial of Musharraf in the high treason case. Several individuals had filed petitions, seeking trial of Musharraf for high treason, in the Supreme Court, however, legal experts were of the view that the high treason trial could only be initiated if the federal government approaches the courts. Sharif announced in the National Assembly that Musharraf had twice abrogated the constitution and he must face courts. “We have decided high treason case against Musharraf according to Article 6 of the constitution,” the Prime Minister said in the National Assembly or Lower of the Parliament. Opposition parties welcomed Sharif’s announcement and announced support and demanded high treason charges against all those who had supported Musharraf’s action. Leader of the opposition, Syed Khurshid Shah, speaking in the House, proposed to remove portraits of all military rulers from the government buildings. Musharraf had dismissed the government of Nawaz Sharif in October 1999 and later sent him into exile to Saudi Arabia. “In 1999 country was on its way to progress and nothing was abnormal when the dictator dissolved the elected government,” Nawaz Sharif said. He assured the apex court and people of Pakistan that every judgment of the judiciary will be respected and implemented. Musharraf abrogated the constitution twice without any lawful reason in October 1999 and again on the third of November 2007, he said. He said the government is committed for upholding the supremacy of constitution at all cost and will respect all judgements of the superior court. Earlier Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presided over a meeting of the federal cabinet and got its approval for Musharraf’s trial. Gen Musharraf, who returned to the country in March after three-year exile, is presently under house arrest at his farmhouse in Islamabad due to cancellation of his bail in the murder case of a tribal elder Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2005. Besides treason charges and Bugti case, he is being tried in the judges’ detention case and Benazir Bhutto’s assassination case./end