Trial and death: The Pervez Musharraf story


The Indian Express

Mehr Gill

The punishment for high treason, as per Pakistan’s High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973, is death or life imprisonment. A special court in Islamabad on Tuesday sentenced former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf to death for high treason under Article 6 of Pakistan’s Constitution.

ARTICLE 6 says: “Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or hold in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance the Constitution by use of force or show force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason.”
THE PUNISHMENT for high treason, as per Pakistan’s High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973, is death or life imprisonment.
AN APPEAL against the verdict will lie in Pakistan’s Supreme Court. Even if the top court upholds the special court’s verdict, the country’s President can pardon him under Article 45 of the constitution: “The President shall have power to grant pardon, reprieve and respite, and to remit, suspend or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal or other authority.” Pakistan’s army has already declared that Musharraf “can surely never be a traitor”, and that the “armed forces expect that justice will be dispensed in line with the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan”. In any case, it is not expected that Musharraf, who is in self-imposed exile in Dubai, will return to Pakistan to carry the case through to the end.
THE CASE against Musharraf began in December 2013, six months after Nawaz Sharif, whom the general had ousted in 1999, returned to power. He was charged with treason for having imposed an emergency in November 2007 and arresting several judges, and was indicted in March 2014. As the trial negotiated several twists and turns and passed through delays, Musharraf left Pakistan in March 2016 for treatment.
THE VERDICT was reserved by the special court on November 19. The court said it would give its judgment on November 28; however, Pakistan’s government petitioned the Islamabad High Court asking that “the special court be restrained from passing final judgment in the trial”. The High Court temporarily restrained the special court from pronouncing its verdict, and asked the government to notify a new prosecution team. This team appeared before the special court on December 5, and was told that it would be heard on December 17, after which the verdict would be pronounced.

THE EXTRAORDINARY development, even if largely symbolic, marks the first time that a military dictator in Pakistan — a country that has been ruled by the generals for more than half its life — has been held accountable for his actions in power. Sharif, who stood up the most to the army among all Pakistani politicians, sought to use the treason case to assert civilian supremacy.

Reference: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/trial-and-death-the-pervez-musharraf-story-6172302/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India Joins Russia in Voting Against West-Backed Move to Expand Powers of OPCW

The Wire: June 28, 2018 New Delhi: India voted against a UK-backed move that will allow the global chemical weapons watchdog to apportion blame for illegal attacks, criticising the decision to grant “unchecked powers” to the head of the group which could be used for “partisan” purposes. On Wednesday, more than two-thirds of the member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted to authorise the international body to identify the perpetrators and sponsors of a chemical weapons attack. It also specifically called on the OPCW’s technical secretariat to begin work on identifying the perpetrators behind the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The draft decision, sponsored by 30 countries, was adopted at the fourth special session of the conference of the states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention at the Hague, with 82 in favour and 24 negative votes. While Europe, the United States and their allies voted ‘yes’, there was strong oppo...
Read more

As financial insecurity rises in urban India, so does investment in insurance

Image
Scroll.in March 13, 2020 Urban Indians are becoming less confident about their financial security. Up to 58% of them fret over financial independence post retirement, which is a 4% increase from last year. An equal share of urban Indians worry about meeting their daily medical expenses and sustaining their current lifestyle once they stop working. The findings are part of a survey published by Delhi-based Max Life Insurance in association with London-based consultancy Kantar. The firms surveyed 7,014 respondents in 25 cities, including six metros, nine tier-1 cities, and 10 tier-2 cities, between December 2019 and January 2020. Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz The trends Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz A significant share of urban Indians also say their families will have no financial support in the event of the breadwinner’s death. In such a scenario, around 57% believe the family sav...
Read more

ED tracks Swiss Bank A/Cs of Agusta scamster

The Poineer February 10,2019 Rakesh K Singh The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Saxena, who is key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The ED has also found out accounts held by  his family members and associates where the kickbacks in the now scrapped deal were allegedly parked. Two bank accounts are in the name of Rajiv Saxena’s  associates Pankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who are also the authorised signatories. The  third is in the name of another associate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv and his family members are authorised signatories. The remaining nine accounts are largely owned and operated by Rajiv, his family members and associates. Rajiv Saxena was deported by the UAE authorities on January 30 and the ED formally arrested him the next day and a court later granted his remand to the agency. He is currently undergoing custodial interrogation by the ED. The agency had in 2017...
Read more