SC to take up Musharraf’s plea against death penalty
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will commence from Nov 10 the hearing on a set of appeals also moved by the now deceased former President retired Gen Pervez Musharraf seeking to overturn the Dec 17, 2019, death conviction awarded to him by the Special Court in the high treason case.
The four-judge bench will consist of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Aminud Din Khan and Justice Athar Minallah.
The late general, through his counsel Salman Safdar, had instituted the appeal with a plea to set aside the conviction since the trial was conducted and completed “in sheer violation of the Constitution as well as the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1898 as well as the suspension of the judgment in the interest of justice and fair play.”
The appeal said the former president was tried for a constitutional crime in an entirely unconstitutional manner.
The late general pleaded his trial was conducted in sheer violation of Constitution
The petition stated that Mr Musharraf was a highly decorated former four-star general of the Pakistan Army and he had a “remarkably distinguished career”.
In a separate development, the Sindh High Court Bar Association had also challenged the Jan 13, 2020, Lahore High Court decision of declaring as unconstitutional the decision of the Special Court, and sought to set aside the high court judgment.
The petition also pleaded to the apex court to restore the conviction by the Special Court for subverting the Constitution.
Filed by counsel Rasheed A. Razvi, the appeal had pleaded that the high court verdict suffers from gross illegality, mis-appreciation of facts, non-appreciation of law and, therefore, liable to be set aside by the apex court.
The appeal contended that the high court verdict was based on misreading of evidence without appreciating the material produced by the prosecution during the trial.
Moreover the high court has also failed to take note of the fact that the material produced by the prosecution before the Special Court was not denied by Gen Musharraf at any stage of the case.
It is well settled principle of Qanoon-i-Shahadat Order that the facts when not denied deemed to have been admitted by the parties as well as the admitted facts and circumstances need not to be proved, the appeal argued.
The petition contended that the high court verdict was contrary to the law laid down by the superior courts as well as against the dicta laid down by the Supreme Court in the case 2019 Lahore High Court Bar Association case.
Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2023