No record of cabinet’s approval in Musharraf’s high treason case, LHC told

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday posed questions regarding the legality of the high treason case filed against former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and the formation of the special court that conducted the trial and handed death sentence to the retired general after finding him guilty.

A three-member bench — comprising Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Mohammad Ameer Bhatti and Justice Chaudhry Muhammad Masood Jahangir — was hearing a set of petitions filed by Musharraf challenging multiple actions against him, including conviction in high treason case, establishment of the trial court, and filing of the complaint by the government.

Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, who has been appointed as the court’s amicus curiae in the case, said the case against Musharraf seemed to have been filed on the behest of the then prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif as there was no record of the matter being on the agenda of any of the cabinet meetings held at the time. A case under Article 6 cannot be filed without the cabinet’s approval, Barrister Zafar insisted. The court asked if the matter was on the agenda of any cabinet meeting, to which Zafar responded in the negative. “None of the cabinet meetings was held on the matter,” Barrister Zafar said.

Justice Bhatti pointed out that during a recent case pertaining to the extension and reappointment of the Army chief the strength of the cabinet was discussed. But in Musharraf’s case the cabinet’s approval or its role could not be seen, the judge said.

On June 21, 2013 the attorney general sent a summary to the then prime minister that a case be prepared against the former president under Article 6, Barrister Zafar told the court, adding the interior secretary was given the authority to file a complaint on December 29, 2013.

The case that was prepared was not in accordance with the law neither was the formation of the special court in accordance with the law, Zafar said. “The complaint against Musharraf was not filed by the lawful authority … the law was violated here as well. According to the law the cabinet has to nominate the relevant authority which would file the complaint. When the formation of the court [that heard the case] is wrong and illegal then all its steps and decisions will be considered illegal,” he added.

The court asked the federal government to submit a summary of the formation of the special court and directed the state lawyer to present arguments on the next date of hearing on January 13.

On December 17, a special court had convicted the former president for high treason and handed him the death penalty on five counts in a 2-1 majority verdict. Subsequently, Musharraf had approached the LHC with three petitions against the conviction.

The former president had 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 Sharif that resulted in the trial.

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

Additional Attorney General Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan representing the federal government had on Thursday informed the LHC’s 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.