Pakistan to start treason probe of Musharraf

[Shah-i-Kot]

Pakistan to start treason probe of Musharraf



By Munir Ahmed,


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered officials on Wednesday to begin a treason investigation of former military ruler and army chief Pervez Musharraf, bringing him closer to trial.
The case sets up a possible clash between the government and the powerful army, a worrisome prospect in a country with a history of military coups. Musharraf could face life in prison or the death penalty if convicted of treason.









The government told the Supreme Court on Monday that Musharraf, who seized power in a military coup in 1999, should be put on trial for allegedly committing treason while in office, specifically citing his decision to declare a state of emergency and suspend the constitution in 2007.
The court ordered the government to notify the judges by Wednesday of the steps it would take to try Musharraf and scheduled a hearing for the following day.
Sharif said Wednesday in a written reply to the court that the government would set up a special team to investigate Musharraf for treason under Article 6 of the constitution. After the probe is completed, authorities will constitute the special court required to try him on that charge.
Imaur Rehman, a lawyer who has been critical of Musharraf, described the decision to open an investigation as “bold” and “the first serious step toward holding Musharraf’s trial on treason charges.”
However, another lawyer, Ghulam Nabi, cautioned that the government could use the probe as a way to delay the case and avoid a confrontation with the army. “I think the investigation officer, who will be appointed by the government, will take months to complete his work, and we don’t know whether the officer would come up with enough [of the] evidence required to punish Musharraf,” Nabi said.
The case is personal for Sharif because he was serving as prime minister in 1999 when Musharraf staged his coup. Musharraf ruled for nearly a decade but was forced to step down in 2008 because of growing public discontent. He spent years in exile before returning to the country in March.
— Associated Press

[Shah-i-Kot]

The Prime Minister’s Revenge: Sharif Charges Former General Musharraf With Treason

By Omar Waraich / Islamabad June 27, 2013[



When General Pervez Musharraf vaulted to power in a 1999 military coup, the man he overthrew was hurled into a cell in a 16th century fort near Islamabad. Some months later, Nawaz Sharif, the deposed Prime Minister, was convicted on what his supporters say were trumped-up charges. He was sentenced to life behind bars. It was only later, at the insistence of the Saudis, that he was released and dispatched into exile. In his absence, Musharraf became Pakistan’s absolute ruler.
Now, the tables have turned. The vanquished has returned to power, and his onetime tormentor faces the prospect of taking up a spot in the cell he vacated. Sharif recently became Pakistan’s first third-time Prime Minister. After barely a month in power, he told Parliament this week that his government will prosecute Musharraf for “high treason” for violating the constitution when the then military ruler imposed a state of emergency in November 2007.
Sharif’s move has arched eyebrows and set off some jitters. In a country where the army has ruled for nearly half of its history, no general has been thrown behind narrowly spaced bars for abuses of power. The prospect of Musharraf, one of Pakistan’s longest-serving army chiefs, becoming the first in jail has raised in some observers’ minds a fear of a destabilizing confrontation between the new civilian government and the powerful generals. The Karachi Stock Exchange, which had been cresting at record highs since the May general elections, plunged at Sharif’s announcement.
(PHOTOS: The Rise and Fall of Pervez Musharraf)
For Sharif, holding Musharraf to account for his actions represents an opportunity to entrench civilian power. In the 1990s, both of his governments were thwarted by military interventions. During his seven years in exile, Sharif’s aides say, he reflected on the faltering course of Pakistan’s attempts at democracy, and when he returned to the country in 2007 he resolved to prevent future military coups. Sharif’s party sees Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a model: a socially conservative party that modernized the economy while successfully taming threats to democracy.
But critics say Pakistan is currently faced with a formidable array of challenges — crippling electricity shortages, deadly terrorist attacks, a torpid economy — that are more deserving of Sharif’s attention. “Mr. Sharif should follow Nelson Mandela’s example,” says Mushahid Hussain, a leading opposition Senator. “He should forgive General Musharraf, call for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and press ahead with solving the big issues facing the country. Instead, he seems to be starting where he left off last time.”
Musharraf’s return to Pakistan this year, after his own four years in self-imposed exile to London and Dubai, seems to be have been doomed from the moment he stepped off the plane in Karachi. The welcome he craved, hoping to leverage his much publicized Facebook following, failed to materialize. Soon after, the courts began beckoning, forcing him to appear before judges he had sacked when he imposed the state of emergency.
(MORE: Nawaz Sharif’s Return to Power Brings Pakistan’s Challenges in Focus)
In April, Musharraf was denied bail in one of the other cases he’s facing, causing him to flee the courtroom to evade arrest. The next day, Musharraf was placed under house arrest at his agreeable 2-hectare villa on the outskirts of Islamabad. His attempt to run for election ran into trouble after he was disqualified from standing. And on Tuesday, Musharraf was named the “prime accused” in the murder case of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
The current high command of the Pakistan army had quietly urged Musharraf to not hazard the journey back from exile. Their point was that it would not only damage him but would also taint the institution, possibly dragging other members of the army into his legal quandary. Musharraf didn’t listen to them then, and isn’t listening to them now. Some weeks ago, before the recent elections, some of Musharraf’s former army colleagues visited him, urging him to seek a way to leave the country before a new government took power. The onetime commando bristled at the suggestion. “I’ll face the charges,” Musharraf told them, according to a source knowledgeable about the meeting.
By digging in his heels, Musharraf has put his successors in the army in a difficult position. Under the current army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Pakistan’s soldiery has adjusted to a lesser, and less conspicuous, role in the running of the country. Democracy has proceeded, with one elected government replacing another for the first time in Pakistan’s six-decade history. But during the past five years, the army has jealously guarded its influence over foreign and defense policies. Now, Sharif holds both portfolios.
(MORE: The Return of the General: Why Is Musharraf Running for Office in Pakistan?)
Kayani may face some pressure from within his ranks to intervene on Musharraf’s behalf. During his three-hour-long meeting with Sharif after the elections, Kayani broached the topic of Musharraf’s fate with the newly elected PM. The army has discreetly laid on security for Musharraf at his villa. But it has resisted any public intervention, perhaps wary of provoking a backlash. With just a few months left until his retirement, Kayani may not want to taint his legacy with a risky move.
Another powerful man who is retiring this year is Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. In 2007, he was sacked twice by Musharraf, and reinstated both times by a popular lawyer-led movement. Since his most recent restoration, he is seen by the local media as a moral crusader and deferred to by Sharif’s party. The new government has appointed Munir Malik, one of Chaudhry’s former lawyers, as the new attorney general.
It’s hard to determine if the authorities are motivated by bringing the powerful to account, or simply by revenge. But when Sharif appointed Musharraf army chief in 1998, the pair got on famously. “They’re both cultural Lahoris,” says Hussain, the senator, who was a Sharif minister and later a Musharraf aide. “They have the same love of friendships, music and films.” A mere month before the coup, the Prime Minister and the army chief visited the mountains of Skardu together, breaking into a duet at one point. They even rowed together in a boat.
Since the coup that pitted them against each other, they’ve also shared similar fates. An ignominious fall from power, legal miseries, gilded but suffocating exile in the Gulf and London (where their apartments are just a mile apart), and the excruciating sight of watching the other’s political fortunes soar as their own plummet. “If they weren’t in politics,” says Hussain, “they would have been great friends.”
The Prime Minister’s Revenge: Sharif Charges Former General Musharraf With Treason | TIME.com

[Shah-i-Kot]

Treason trial: Four-member FIA probe team named

By Mudassir Raja / Zahid Gishkori
Published: June 28, 2013







ISLAMABAD: Moving a step closer to putting Pervez Musharraf on trial for treason, the government on Thursday constituted a committee to interrogate the former president for subverting the constitution.

Briefing parliament, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar revealed that a four-member committee had been set up to probe charges of treason under Article 6 of the Constitution, during Musharraf’s tenure between 1999 and 2008.
“The committee will keep the interior ministry posted on progress on a weekly basis and should submit its findings within a short period of time,” Nisar said.
The committee will be made up of four senior officers, Additional Director Generals Khalid Qureshi and Azam Khan and Senior Directors Hussain Asghar and Maqsoodul Hassan of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

FIA Additional Director Khalid Qureshi was the chief investigator in the Benazir Bhutto murder case and led the Joint Investigation Team that questioned Musharraf earlier. Qureshi was also the member of the team that probed Mumbai attacks case.
Additional Director, Azam Khan, has been representing FIA in the SC while looking after legal matters of the agency. The other team member Director Hussain Asghar was the chief interrogator in the Hajj scam case.
Interior ministry officials reveal that the team will operate under the FIA Act 1974, which allows it to interrogate any citizen who has been accused of violating the law.

We will prepare the case by collecting necessary evidences, a member of the committee told The Express Tribune. It will be real test case for FIA’s team to record statements of all high profile officials, he added.
The member hoped that the investigation would not take more than two months for completion. Once complete, the report will be submitted to the apex court as well as to the trial court hearing the treason case, he added.
In light of the Supreme Court directive, the committee is likely to interrogate Musharraf, former Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and Secretary Interior Kamal Shah, officials revealed.
Yet sources caution that the FIA team may not be able to interrogate high-ranking military officers, who had backed Musharraf in 2007, voicing fears that the FIA Act of 1974 was silent on this specific issue.
Talking to The Express Tribune, former FIA Director General Zafarullah Khan said the case would be litmus test for the federal agency.
Impartiality of Trial
Facing the prospect of standing trial for high treason, former president Pervez Musharraf penned his fears about the impartiality of the superior judiciary, federal government and media about his trial under article 6 of the constitution.
In a three page response to the stance of the federal government, Musharraf’s counsel Ibrahim Satti argued that the former army chief was not afraid of standing trial under the High Treason Act provided that he is given the right to a fair trial by an impartial tribunal without any interference.
Satti argued that the former president was apprehensive of a trial by a judiciary directly affected by his actions and a federal government, now headed by the person he had ousted from power in October, 1999.
Taking exception to the media hype surrounding the case, the incarcerated former head of state also raised objections to the media trial being undertaken against him, saying the matter was sub judice.
“Attorney General Munir A Malik has stated that the government has decided to proceed against Musharraf in line with the earlier ruling of the SC. Such an impression, that the apex court had already declared Musharraf guilty of abrogating the constitution would badly affect the treason trial,” said Satti, adding that Malik had also played a leading role in the lawyers’ movement against Musharraf.
The three member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), which is hearing the petitions, observed that due process and fair trial could not be denied to any person facing a criminal case and the former general will be given all opportunity to provide his defense.
Meanwhile, the apex court issued an official handout clarifying that it had not reserved its judgement in the case and would continue proceedings on Friday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, June 28th, 2013.

[Karachi]

He is just one of the many many many evil leaders in that country, unfortunately most of the others are free

[Friend]

If he is punished in real. This will be a great example for the other dictators. He must be punshed. He is the creator of all new evils started in the last 13 years.

[Khostai]

The whole nation should be bombed, sombody must hack paki govermnet computers and launch there nuclear rackets on themself.
Death to Pakistan and death to every paki in this world.

[khushal]

The whole nation should be bombed, sombody must hack paki govermnet computers and launch there nuclear rackets on themself.
Death to Pakistan and death to every paki in this world.

^^You are more and more sounding like your hero Hitler.

[randolph85]

i love seeing what is happening to mushy. out of all the paki leaders, when he spoke about afg it was always condescending. i am sure other leaders feel the same way about afg, but they have the decency of at least sounding professional whereas mushy always publicly portrayed afg as pakistans underling.

[Friend]

The whole nation should be bombed, sombody must hack paki govermnet computers and launch there nuclear rackets on themself.
Death to Pakistan and death to every paki in this world.

This is an example of a secular. Imagine how cruel can this moron be.

[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Trying this filthy pig in filthy court rooms of pakistan is pointless. The best solution is the one Adnan Rashid suggested in his latest video.

[Catya Sher]

Seems to me that Musharraf's treason had much to do with
changing the line of the country under pressure from, ahem, foreign power / powers.

I bet he never uttered a single word against Israel, by the way,
in his entire time in office.

That alone would betreacherous.

I don't think he should be killed. He was not AS bad as
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. But charged with an accurate and complete list of bad deeds
to make the point that his unthinkable behavior of, for example, kowtowing to America
in every way possible and handing over even DIPLOMATS
like Mullah Zaeff, thus breaking every international law, can not go unpunished.

He could be confined to his house, for example, with guards around it. He wasn't evil at heart
but severely misguided and a sell-out.

[Karachi]

^ Zulfikar ali bhutto was evil? what did he do, I can't recall

as for Musharaff, the biggest problem with him was his arrogance about everything. He did do some nice things at the beginning, but his crimes later on totally over shadowed that and yeah, he was a big sell out, the whole army and ISI are a sell out.

[Catya Sher]

No, I am not saying Bhutto Senior was evil. But he was doing a lot of bad things in trying to force the country into a secular mode.
Only at the end of his time did he start to implement some
Islamic measures, such as alcohol prohibition.
Seems to me, the observance of the Ramazan fast was also
institutionalized about that time ? Also the wearing of shalwar-kamiz instead
of Western dress which had taken over during Bhutto's years.
[At least in the cities, I am not sure about the countryside].

Bhutto was trying to get the country completely away from its roots.
He isn't recalled by many of the younger generations.
He WAS bad, though !

Yes, arrogance and a certain supercilious manner seem to be
characteristic of Musharraf. I agree, too, they all went down the drain.

Hope that they can recover their honor now.

[khushal]

Its just Nawaz Sharif trying to get back at him for deposing him back in the late 90's. The Army is not going to let anything happen to him, that's for sure. In reality, they are all crooks from Nawaz Sharif to Zardari to Keyani. One crook trying to bring another crook to justice. lol

[Shehbaz Khan]

Seems too tough! If it's done I'll be the first one to salute NS.