Pervez Musharraf singled out in treason case: Lawyer tells court

Pervez Musharraf’s lawyer on Tuesday claimed that the former Pakistan president was being singled out in the treason trial and all those involved in the imposition of the emergency in 2007 should be tried together.

Former military ruler, through his lawyer Farogh Nasim, sought a copy of the investigation report on the basis of which the treason case has been initiated against him. Nasim also asked the court to provide the dissenting note written by a senior official of Federal Investigation Agency.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, heard the case pertaining to high treason charges against 70-year-old Musharraf. In the case’s last hearing on March 31, Musharraf was indicted for suspending, subverting and abrogating the Constitution, imposing an emergency in the country in November 2007 and detaining judges of the superior courts. The defence presented the notification issued for the declaration of the emergency in 2007 and said the names of the people who were consulted regarding it were included in the order.

Nasim argued that according to the law, all those involved in the alleged crime should be tried together to which Justice Arab replied that the special court does not have the authority to hear other cases. Nasim said according to international laws, a single person could not be targeted under any charge and the people who were mentioned to have been consulted over the November 3 notification should also be sent notices and tried in court.

The lawyer argued that the Federal Investigation Agency’s report had also not been made public yet.

Nasim claimed that a member of the investigation committee wrote a dissenting note which was not included and questioned the prosecution’s motives for excluding the note. Musharraf’s lawyer argued that the decision related to the appointment of the prosecutor in the case was still pending and the court in its ruling of March 27 had said a ruling would be announced before the start of the testimony.