Musharraf treason case: Govt to follow court's every direction, says Fawad

ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the PTI government has decided to continue pursuing the high-treason case against former president Gen Pervez Musharraf (retd) in the Special Court. Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhary told The News on Monday the government would follow every direction of the Special Court. “The matter is in the court now and we will implement its every direction in the [high-treason] case,” Fawad said. To a question, he said that if the court directed, the federal government would take every measure to bring back the former president to the country to face the court. Federal Law Minister and counsel of Gen Musharraf, Barrister Farogh Naseem, soon after taking charge of his ministry, declined to represent his client after becoming part of the PTI government. When The News approached him on Monday for comments about who could represent the federal government in the special court after Akram Sheikh disassociated himself from the case, the minister said he wouldn’t say anything on the matter as he has decided that he wouldn’t give any advice to the government in this case. It may be relevant to mention here that during the last hearing of the case on Wednesday, August 29, Interior Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar had told the bench led by Justice Yawer Ali, Chief Justice Lahore High Court, that a letter had been written to Interpol for Musharraf's repatriation but it had refused to issue a red warrant, saying that the organisation did not deal with political cases.

During the hearing, prosecutor Akram Shaikh, who had been pursuing the case for the last five years, also submitted an application to the court saying he wanted to detach himself from the case. He added that Musharraf's counsel had become part of the government and the interior ministry had to decide the future course of action in the case. The senior lawyer had already submitted his resignation to the interior ministry after the July 25 election on the grounds that if the incoming PTI government wanted to continue with the case, it should engage a lawyer to proceed further. Sheikh had repeatedly requested the special court to conclude the trial and issue a verdict in Musharraf's absence.