Former military dictator General (r) Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday was handed death sentence in the high treason case against him.
The case was being heard by a a special bench comprising Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Waqar Ahmad Seth Akbar and Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court (LHC). The bench was formed on the orders of the Supreme Court (SC).
According to reports, the court, in its short order, said that it analysed complaints, records, arguments and facts in the case for three months, adding that it found Musharraf guilty of high treason according to Article 6 of the constitution.
It was a majority verdict.
TREASON CASE:
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had in 2013 filed the treason case against Musharraf over the president’s imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.
Earlier this year, head of the prosecution, Mohammad Akram Sheikh, tendered his resignation. In his resignation letter sent to the interior secretary, Sheikh expressed his inability to proceed with the case after the imminent change of government at the centre.
Akram was appointed as the head of the prosecution in the case in November 2013, by the then ruling PML-N.
Musharraf was indicted in the case in March 2014 after he appeared before the court and rejected all charges.
On March 18, 2016, the former president left the country for Dubai for medical treatment after his name was removed from the exit control list (ECL) on the orders of the Supreme Court (SC).
A few months later, the special court had declared him a proclaimed offender and ordered the confiscation of his property owing to his continuous inability to appear.
Later, his passport and identity card were also cancelled on orders of the apex court.
