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Pervez Musharraf must face treason trial, Pakistani premier says

Iran Press TV

Mon Jun 24, 2013 8:22AM GMT

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called on the country’s judicial officials to try former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on the charge of treason.

Talking to Pakistan’s attorney general, Sharif said on Monday that his government will file a high treason case at the Supreme Court against Musharraf for abrogating the Pakistani constitution when he imposed emergency rule in 2007.

Sharif added that Musharraf, who is currently under house arrest, should face trial and “answer his guilt” before the court because, his actions came under the “purview of high treason.”

According to Pakistan’s constitution, the state can only initiate a treason trial.

“We will follow the process of law and all political forces will be taken into confidence,” Sharif said.

“Musharraf violated the constitution twice. He overthrew an elected government in 1999 and put everything into jeopardy. He sacked judges and imprisoned them,” the Pakistani premier added.

In 1999, Musharraf led a coup that overthrew the administration of Nawaz Sharif.

Musharraf is currently under house arrest at his home in the capital, Islamabad, in connection with several cases against him, including the Benazir Bhutto case.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Bhutto was killed in a gun-and-bomb attack on December 27, 2007 as she was leaving an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi.

Musharraf has been accused of failing to provide enough security for Bhutto after she returned from exile on October 18, 2007.

He is also facing charges of illegally putting judges under house arrest, after he sacked Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, declared a state of emergency, and suspended the constitution, during a crackdown on the judiciary in 2007.

In addition, Musharraf is accused of violating the constitution for giving the order to arrest the judges.

The former army general, who seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1999, stepped down as president in August 2008, about six months after his allies lost parliamentary elections in February 2008 and the new government threatened to impeach him. A year later, he left the country.

In March 2013, Musharraf returned to Pakistan after nearly four years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai to run in the May 11 parliamentary elections.

DB/HSN