ISLAMABAD: The Musharraf high treason verdict is creating distances and pushing Pakistan towards conflict, said Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid on Tuesday.
Special court awarded death sentence to former president Pervez Musharraf in a high treason case against him.
The former military chief is currently in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The high treason trial of the former military dictator for clamping the state of emergency on Nov 3, 2007, had been pending since December 2013.
A three-member special court comprising Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) Waqar Seth, Justice Nazar Akbar of the Sindh High Court (SHC) and Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court (LHC) is hearing the case.
On behalf of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, the prosecution team, led by Advocate Ali Zia Bajwa, prayed upon the court to amend the indictment against the former military ruler.
Bajwa said the government wants to frame charges against former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, Abdul Hamid Dogar, and Zahid Hamid. “It is imperative for all accused to be tried simultaneously. The aiders and abettors should be tried as well.”
It was a majority verdict, with three of the two judges giving the decision against Musharraf.
Earlier, the special court hearing the high treason case against the former president had said it would announce the verdict on December 17 even if arguments of both sides were not completed by then.
It is pertinent to mention here the special court on November 19 had said the verdict in the case would be announced on November 28, before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) barred it from doing so.
The high treason trial of the former military dictator for clamping the state of emergency on Nov 3, 2007, has been pending since December 2013.
He was booked in the treason case in December 2013. Musharraf was indicted on March 31, 2014, and the prosecution had tabled the entire evidence before the special court in September the same year. However, due to litigation at appellate forums, the trial of the former military dictator lingered on and he left Pakistan in March 2016.
