Press conference after conviction of Pervez Musharraf: PHC summons four cabinet members in contempt case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday summoned the federal cabinet members who had addressed a press conference after the verdict of the special court, which had awarded the death sentence to former President General (r) Pervez Musharraf in a high treason case.

A three-member bench of the special court in Islamabad, headed by the then PHC chief justice, Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and comprising Justice Nazar Akbar of the Sindh High Court and Justice Shahid Karim of the LHC had convicted Pervez Musharraf of death sentence after finding him guilty of high treason on December 17, last year.

The three-member special court was constituted by the federal government under the Criminal Law Amendment (Special Court) Act, 1976, for trying retired General Musharraf under the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973.

A division bench comprising Justice Roohul Amin and Justice Ijaz Anwar on Thursday directed that those who had committed a contempt of court should appear before the court after whichtheir lawyers will be heard.

Malik Mohammad Ajmal Advocate and Azizuddin Kakakhel Advocate had filed a writ petition in the PHC that federal cabinent members Farough Nasim, Fawad Chaudhry, Firdous Ashiq Awan and Shahzad Akbar had addressed a press conference after the verdict of special court against the former military ruler.

The petitioners believed that the cabinet members gave comments about the verdict, which amounted to a contempt of court.

The division bench directed that those who had committed contempt of court must appear before the court on the next hearing. The deputy attorney general Mohammad Habib Qureshi told the court that they had appeared on behalf of the cabinet members.

However, the court directed the cabinet members to appear in person after which their lawyers could make arguments.

Meanwhile, another bench of the PHC comprising Acting Chief Justice Qaiser Rashid and Justice Nasir Mahfooz directed the authorities to provide health facilities to those convicted by the military courts and arrange their meetings with families regularly.

Additional advocate general Sikandar Hayat Shah told the court that medical facilities were provided to the convicts but families were not being allowed to meet them for security reasons.