Musharraf wanted to drag key civil, military heads in case

ISLAMABAD: General (R) Pervez Musharraf wanted to involve almost the entire top political and defence leadership, many judges of the superior judiciary and every senior bureaucrats (BS 20 and above) of 2007 as his abettors to save his skin, but the apex court had already decided that the former dictator alone be tried for abrogating the Constitution.

To establish that the November 3, 2007 action was the outcome of a consultative process, Musharraf’s legal team head Farogh Naseem had referred to the Proclamation of Emergency Order of November 3, 2007 to assert that all those mentioned in the Proclamation Order for participating in the decision-making process be also made co-accused in this case as Musharraf’s abettor.

Musharraf wanted to drag thousands of people including the then prime minister and his cabinet, all chief ministers, governors, provincial cabinets, chiefs of armed forces, corps commanders, all judges who had taken oath on PCO, all BS-20 and above members of the civilian bureaucracy etc.

Musharraf, through his counsel, had moved an application to the Special Court that the following persons were guilty of aiding, abetting, facilitating, conspiring and collaborating in his action:- (a) the then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who, Musharraf insisted, wrote letter of 03.11.2007 inviting General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf to impose emergency in question; (b) the entire Federal Cabinet on 03.11.2007; (c) the members of the National Assembly as on 06.11.2007; (d) the entire Cabinet and Chief Ministers of all the four provinces as on 03.11.2007; (e) all the Governors of the four provinces as on 03.11.2007; (f) all service Chiefs as on 03.11.2007; (g) all Corps Commanders as on 03.11.2007; (h) all senior members of the Armed Forces of Pakistan as on 03.11.2007; (i) the worthy Chief of the Army Staff between 28.11.2007 to 15.12.2007; (j) all federal and provincial bureaucrats in BS-20 and above; (k) all members of the National and Provincial Assemblies as on 03.11.2007; (l) all Federal and Provincial Secretaries; (m) all learned Judges of the Supreme Judiciary who took oath under the PCO, in particular, those who passed the judgment in the Iqbal Tikka Khan’s case and its review Petition; (n) all members of the Provincial and Federal Police, SSP and above. Thus, Musharraf wanted to rope in every key civilian and military authority to make it impossible for the judiciary to decide the case.

The Special Court while partially agreeing with Musharraf’s application in 2014 had decided that based on the material on record, the probability of their involvement as aiders and abettors could not be ruled out. The Special Court, therefore, directed the Federal Government to submit amended or additional statement as well as Statement of Formal Charges against the then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the then Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid and the then CJP Abdul Hameed Dogar.

However, the Supreme Court had later annulled the Special Court's decision of including the names of the former prime minister, former chief justice and federal minister in the trial against Musharraf.