Formation of special court to try Pervez Musharraf unlawful, legal expert tells court

The constitution of a special court to try Pakistan's former dictator Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf was illegal, a top attorney told the Lahore High Court on Friday as it heard his review plea against the formation of a special tribunal that handed him the death penalty for high treason.

On December 17, the 3-judge special court, in a 2-1 majority verdict, found the ailing 76-year-old ex-Pakistan president, now living in Dubai on self-exile, guilty of high treason by abrogating the Constitution and imposing extra-constitutional emergency in Pakistan in November 2007 and handed him the death sentence.

Subsequently, approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) with three petitions, challenging his conviction.

He has challenged not only the conviction, but also the formation of the special court that handed him the death penalty for high treason, as well as the complaint filed against him by the government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif that resulted in the trial.

A day earlier, a three-member bench of the LHD observed it could not hear the appeal against the death sentence handed out to Musharraf, but agreed to admit the petition against the formation of the special court in the high treason case.

The bench, comprising Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti and Justice Chaudhry Masood Jahangir, held another hearing into the case on Friday. Additional Attorney-General (AAG) Ishtiaq Khan and the counsels for Musharraf appeared in court today.

While hearing the arguments made by Khan on Thursday, the court had summoned senior lawyer Ali Zafar on Friday to testify before the bench as a legal expert.

"The complaint filed against the former president was not filed through the right authority, the formation of a special court to hear the case was also unlawful, and even the case that was made against the former ruler was not according to the law," Geo News quoted Zafar as telling the court.

"The attorney general forwarded a summary to the PM Office dated June 2013 in which reference was made to the Musharraf case. However, it was on December 29, 2013, that the interior ministry was accorded the authority to file a complaint against the former president," he noted.

Zafar, appointed as the court's amicus curiae in the case, also maintained that whenever a law mandated that a case be filed in these matters, the federal Cabinet was endowed with the authority to have the final say on the issue.

"A case under Article 6 cannot be filed without the Cabinet's approval," Zafar insisted. The court asked if the matter was on the agenda of any Cabinet meeting, to which Zafar responded in the negative, Dawn newspaper reported.

Zafar noted that the additional attorney general had already told the court that the federal Cabinet had not approved the complaint.

"Under these circumstances, the grounds for the filing of the case are questionable. No meeting of the federal cabinet was held to discuss the case, according to my knowledge," Zafar told the bench in response to a question about the Cabinet meetings on the issue back in 2013.

After hearing the remarks made by the senior lawyer, the court asked the interior ministry to produce the order under which the special court was formed.

The hearing of the case was then adjourned till January 13, the report said.

AAG Ishtiaq, representing the federal government, yesterday informed the LHC full bench that the formation of the special trial court and filing of a complaint against Musharraf were not approved by the Cabinet, as required by the law.

The AAG informed the bench that only one letter was available in the record, which was written by the then prime minister Sharif to the interior ministry, requiring it to initiate an inquiry against Musharraf on the charges of high treason.

Musharraf is the first military ruler convicted for subverting the Constitution. Musharraf's sentencing is highly significant moment in Pakistan where the powerful military has ruled the country for nearly half of its 72-year history.

Musharraf, who is undergoing treatment in Dubai, expressed regret at the judgment.

Musharraf seized power by ousting then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a 1999 bloodless coup. He has also served as Pakistan's president from 2001 to 2008.

(image credit: ANI)