High treason sentence: Musharraf asks SC to set aside Registrar Office order

ISLAMABAD: Former president Gen (R) Pervez Musharraf on Thursday requested the Supreme Court (SC) to set aside the order of its Registrar refusing to entertain his appeal against the special court’s decision in the high treason case.

Filing an appeal through his counsel Barrister Salman Safdar, the former president prayed to the apex court to direct the Registrar Office to entertain his appeal and fix it before the court for hearing.

Musharraf had challenged before the apex court, the verdict of the Special Court of December 17, 2019 awarding him death sentence in high treason case for imposing emergency rule on November 3, 2007.

In January, the SC Registrar Office returned the appeal of Pervez Musharraf stating that he was convicted under Article 6 of the Constitution. It further stated that the appellant (Musharraf) has not yet surrendered himself in compliance to the Special Court order. The Registrar Office had further stated that the appeal was not entertainable in terms of the Supreme Court Rules 1980 and the law laid down by the apex court in its various judgments.

Pervez Musharraf, however, challenging the Registrar Office order contended that the current medical situation could be ascertained from the medical and video evidence, which confirmed his weak and frail condition resulting from illness and lifesaving treatment.

It was submitted that the appellant is a law abiding citizen and has the highest respect and has shown utmost obedience to the law and courts. Needless to mention that there was no restrain/custodial order in the field, his name was removed from ECL and the same was in the kind notice of Sindh High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The former president further submitted that the sentence (D-Chowk hanging) is an illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and un-Islamic requiring correction by the apex court in appeal.