Political circles fear caretakers may withdraw case against Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: The complaint filed in a special court by the Interior Ministry against Pervez Musharraf on high treason charges may be withdrawn by the caretaker government that will come in place in June, political circles apprehend.

Pervez Musharraf’s trial has now been revived with the fixation of a date of hearing after lying dormant for some two years following his departure from Pakistan.

“It is not expressly provided in the high treason act that such a complaint that only the federal government can file can also withdraw it, but according to the general principle, an authority submitting a plea has the power to retract,” a prominent lawyer told The News.

The three-member special court (now comprising Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Yawar Ali and Justice Tahira Safdar) constituted to try Musharraf has suddenly set March 8 as the date of hearing amid growing public demands that no judicial forum is taking up the cases against the former dictator while top politicians are being dealt with sternly. The former dictator’s trial came to a standstill after he raced out of Pakistan hours after the Supreme Court removed his name from the Exit Control List (ECL) and the present government blinked over his safe exit.

When contacted, senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Pervez Rashid told this correspondent that revival of Musharraf’s trial and putting the names of three retired generals on the ECL are basically part of futile efforts to take care of the growing criticism that one-sided, biased ‘accountability’ is exclusively going on against the Sharif family.

The special court made the announcement a few days after Musharraf declared that he would certainly fly to Pakistan to participate in the next general elections. He also stated that the courts will now do justice to him after Nawaz Sharif’s dismissal as the prime minister and weakening of the present government.

During the brief tenure of every caretaker setup, a number of key decisions, having far-reaching ramifications, creating difficulties for the oncoming elected government, had always been taken at the behest of some elements, who felt constrained when democratically elected dispensations were in place. However, a superior court judgment has barred the interim government from making important policy decisions and allowed it to take only those measures that are required to hold fair, free and transparent elections for which it has been constructed.

Once, the caretaker government had established the national security and defence council that, however, was scrapped by the next regime, then headed by Nawaz Sharif, that was elected in the fresh parliamentary polls.

Keeping in view the track record of the successive interim governments, it is feared by knowledgeable political quarters that the complaint relating to the high treason case may be recalled during this intervening period.

Akram Sheikh, who was appointed the special prosecutor by the present government for the high treason case, will obviously not be owned by the interim setup. He may be relieved of the responsibility, but even before that he may himself quit it.

The constitutional expert said that it would depend on the special court should the interim government through its interior ministry withdraw the complaint. But he said the courts generally do not discard such requests especially the pleas pertaining to high profile cases.

It is already known that Musharraf’s trial – for violating the Constitution by imposing a state of emergency on Nov 3, 2007 – was not received well by certain circles, which always wanted to finish it at all costs without any delay.

Even the then Nawaz Sharif government was reluctant to file the complaint, but was compelled to do so by the chief justice of the time, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who had threatened to serve a contempt of court notice to the prime minister for violation of his order to try the former dictator for high treason.

On March 18, 2016, Musharraf flew to Dubai for medical treatment as soon as his name was struck off the ECL.

In May 2017, he expressed through a plea his willingness to face the treason trial under the army’s protection, and on the assurance from the court that he would be given a safe passage to return to Dubai.