Pakistan Government Slams Detailed Verdict In Musharraf Case

After a special court released its detailed judgement in the high treason case in which it ordered dragging and hanging of former President Pervez Musharrafs corpse, the Pakistan government has slammed the verdict and decided to file a reference against Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). Justice Seth headed the three-judge special court which sentenced the former military ruler to death on Tuesday, reports Dawn news.

Both the government and the Army on Thursday expressed “anger” over ‘paragraph 66’ of the detailed judgement and termed it “unlawful”, “inhuman” and “unconstitutional”. Para 66 of the verdict read: “We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict (Musharraf) and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk (in front of the Parliament House), Islamabad, Pakistan, and be hanged for three days.”

Following this, the government decided to move the SJC and file an appeal against the verdict during a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s strategic committee, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan after his telephonic conversation with Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. The government’s decision was revealed by Law Minister Farogh Naseem, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan and SAPM on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar at a joint press conference on Thursday evening.

Terming the verdict “unprecedented and despicable”, Naseem said: “This is an attempt to take Pakistan into dark ages.” He added that the federal government would plead before the SJC that the PHC chief justice was “mentally unfit” and “incompetent” and, therefore, he should be restrained from giving important decisions as head of the high court or judge of the Supreme Court. Earlier, military spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, said: “Today’s verdict, especially the words used in it, is against humanity, religion, culture and our values.”