Musharraf not charged with 1999 coup
RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD: The Federal government on Thursday filed five charges in high treason case against former President and army chief General Pervez Musharraf (retd) before a Special Court’s registrar.
The Special Court was constituted under Criminal Law Amendment (Special Court) Act, 1976, Islamabad in response to a request of the government.
The Special Court is led by Justice Faisal Arbab of the Sindh High Court and comprises Justice Ms. Tahira Safdar of the Balochistan High Court and Justice Yawar Ali of Lahore High Court. Abdul Ghani Soomro, Session Judge of Sindh Judicial Service, was designated as registrar of the Special Court.
Head of the prosecution team, Muhammad Akram Sheikh, told Business Recorder that primary evidence with a list of custodian of record in the matter, including one investigation officer and eight others, had been submitted before the Special Court’s registrar.
Federal Secretary Interior Shahid Khan submitted a 3-page statement of five formal charges with his signature to the Registrar’s office of the court, saying General Pervez Musharraf (retd) may be formally charged in the instant matter.
The statement of formal charges available with this correspondent said, firstly, on November 3, 2007 at Rawalpindi as Chief of the Army Staff, Pervez Musharraf issued an “unconstitutional and unlawful Proclamation of Emergency Order, 2007” which, unconstitutionally and unlawfully, held the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 in abeyance and he thereby subverted the Constitution and thus committed the offence of high treason punishable under Section 2 of the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 (Act LXVIII of 1973), which is within the jurisdiction of the Special Court established under section 4 of The Criminal Law Amendment. (Special Courts) Act, 1976 (XVII of 1976).
Secondly, on November 3, 2007 at Rawalpindi as Chief of the Army Staff, he issued an “unconstitutional and unlawful Provisional Constitution Order No.1 of 2007” which, “unconstitutionally and unlawfully,” empowered the President to amend the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 from time to time and he also suspended the Fundamental Rights enshrined in Articles 9, 10, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 25 of the Constitution and he thereby “subverted the Constitution” and thus committed the “offence of high treason” punishable under section 2 of the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 (Act LXVIII of 1973), which is within the jurisdiction of the Special Court established under section 4 of The Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act, 1976 (XVII of 1976).
Thirdly, on November 3, 2007 at Rawalpindi as President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, he issued an “unconstitutional and unlawful Oath of Office (Judges) Order, 2007” whereby an oath was, “unconstitutionally and unlawfully,” introduced in the schedule which required a judge to abide by the provisions of the Proclamation of Emergency of November 03, 2007 and the Provisional Constitutional Order of November 03, 2007 to perform acts and functions in accordance thereof and this order also resulted in the removal of numerous judges of the superior courts, including the Chief Justice of Pakistan (Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry), and he thereby “subverted” the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 and thus committed the offence of high treason punishable under Section 2 of the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 (Act LXVIII of 1973), which is within the jurisdiction of the Special Court established under Section 4 of the Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act, 1976 (XVII of 1976).
Fourthly, on November 20, 2007 at Rawalpindi as President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, he issued an “unconstitutional and unlawful Order 5 of 2007 Constitution (Amendment) Order, 2007” whereby Articles 175, 186-A, 198, 218, 270B and 270C were, “unconstitutionally and unlawfully,” amended and Article 270AAA was added to the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 and he thereby “subverted the Constitution” and thus committed the “offence of high treason” punishable under section 2 of the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 (Act LXVIII of 1973), which is within the jurisdiction of the Special Court established under Section 4 of The Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act, 1976 (XVII of 1976).
Fifthly, on December 14, 2007 at Rawalpindi as President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Musharraf issued an “unconstitutional and unlawful Order 6 of 2007 Constitution (Second Amendment) Order, 2007” whereby the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 was, “unconstitutionally and unlawfully,” amended and he thereby “subverted the Constitution” and thus committed the “offence of high treason” punishable under Section 2 of the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 (Act LXVIII of 1973), which is within the jurisdiction of the Special Court established under section 4 of The Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act, 1976 (XVII of 1976).
It is pertinent to mention here that the provisions of law demands that the registrar of the Special Court will serve a notice to the accused of high treason case in seven days after receiving the statement of charges whereas the accused is bound to submit a reply within a week following the receipt of this notice.
