Islamabad: With the powerful Pakistan Army publicly backing former dictator Pervez Musharraf after he was sentenced to death for treason, Prime Minister Imran Khan discussed the issue with his top party aides Wednesday even as his government decided to support the retired General’s appeal against the ‘unfair’ verdict.
Former Pakistan president and military ruler Musharraf was sentenced to death in absentia Tuesday for high treason following a six-year legal case. He has been living in Dubai since 2016 after Pakistan’s Supreme Court lifted a travel ban allowing him to leave the country to seek medical treatment.
Imran Khan, who returned from Geneva, chaired an emergency meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s core committee where he was briefed by two senior lawyers about the sentence given to Musharraf.
Special Assistant to the PM on Information and Broadcasting, Firdous Ashiq Awan, told the media that barrister Ali Zafar and advocate Babar Awan briefed the party leaders about the special court’s decision against Musharraf.
“It has been decided that legal team of the party will brief the Cabinet before taking a formal stance over the matter after taking in-depth view of the court’s judgment,” said Awan.
Following Musharraf’s sentencing, the Pakistan army said that their former chief can ‘never be a traitor’ and the verdict against him has been received with ‘lot of pain and anguish’ by the armed forces personnel.
“The due legal process seems to have been ignored including constitution of special court, denial of fundamental right of self defence, undertaking individual specific proceedings and concluding the case in haste,” Pakistan army spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said in a statement.
“Armed forces of Pakistan expect that justice will be dispensed in line with Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” Ghafoor stressed, piling pressure on the government.
Musharraf has now become the first military ruler to receive the capital punishment in Pakistan’s history.
Alarmed by the military’s public statement, Prime Minister Khan quickly deployed two of his trusted aides to assuage the Army to say that the government would defend the self-exiled, ailing ex-president during the hearing of an appeal to be filed on his behalf.
“I will defend the law in the case but not any individual,” said Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan in a late-night press conference Wednesday along with Awan. He said Musharraf was not given the right of fair trial and the judgement was announced in absentia without recording statement of the accused.
Khan said the verdict raised questions about the ‘urgency in pronouncing the judgement when Mr Musharraf was in critical condition in ICU’ in Dubai.
“There is no question that a person who had committed treason must be punished but in this case the right of fair trial guaranteed under the Constitution was not ensured. A trial should not just be fair but also seen to be fair,” Imran was quoted as saying by ‘Dawn’ newspaper.
AFP