ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said that it was up to the court to decide if former military dictator Pervez Musharraf’s actions of Nov 3, 2007 amounted to high treason.
Musharraf is facing treason charges in a special tribunal for conspiring against the Constitution of Pakistan by imposing emergency and overthrowing the superior judiciary in November 2007.
The 70-year-old former army chief is the first military dictator in Pakistan's history to face a trial for treason. His lawyers contend that the treason charge levied against him is politically motivated.
Speaking to a private TV channel on Saturday, PM Sharif, whose government was overthrown by Musharraf in 1999, said it was up to the court to decide whether the state and Constitution was abrogated by the military dictator’s actions.
He added that it was the court which would also decide whether or not the Nov 3 action fell in the purview of Article 6 of the Constitution, which speaks about high treason.
“Since the matter is sub-judice, so any comment from my side may be unfair. However, other than case's merit, I do say that the real petitioners in this case are the state and the Constitution of Pakistan,” the prime minister said.
Sharif also observed that the case was not that of an individual. At this critical juncture of the history, it should be ascertained that whether “we are a civilised democratic state having our own constitution, law and judicial system,” he said.
“If every citizen is equal before (the) law, he (Musharraf) should also be answerable to the court. It is up to the court to decide whether he is innocent or guilty,” he added.
No immediate lifting of travel ban: official
Also on Saturday, interior ministry officials denied rumours that they were lifting a travel ban on the ex-military strongman, who suffered a heart problem on the way to his treason trial earlier this week.
Musharraf was taken ill and rushed to a military hospital on Thursday as he was being transported under heavy guard to hear treason charges against him at the special tribunal in Islamabad.
The former army chief was Saturday spending his third day at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi. His lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri said doctors were monitoring his condition in the intensive care unit. The sudden health scare was met with scepticism from some observers and feverish media speculation that his departure from Pakistan on medical grounds could be imminent. But Musharaf's name has been put on an official “Exit Control List” (ECL) to bar him from travelling abroad, and a court in the Southern Sindh province ruled last month against lifting the ban.
“There is no intention to allow him overseas travel at the moment,” a senior official of the ministry of interior told news agency AFP.
He denied reports that Musharraf's wife Sehba has filed a application with the ministry seeking to lift the ban.
“No fresh application has been filed by Madam Sehba, and it is clear that the travel ban on Musharraf is not being lifted. He won’t be allowed to travel abroad immediately,” the official said.
Musharraf's lawyer Kasuri told AFP earlier on Saturday that the doctors have sent his medical reports to experts in Britain, who will determine his further treatment.
“The reports of the medical tests of General (retired) Musharraf have been sent to the experts for further examination in the UK,” Kasuri told AFP.
“The decision about his further treatment to be carried out in Pakistan or abroad will be taken in the light of the British experts' opinion,” he said.
“Of course they (the Pakistan doctors) will give him excellent treatment. He is a former President of Pakistan and Army Chief. He is a high profile personality,” Kasuri said.
There has been speculation for months that Musharraf would be spirited out of the country before facing the courts in order to head off a potentially destabilising clash between the government and the all-powerful military.
Ministers have repeatedly said they will not lift the ban.
Kasuri had said on Friday that Musharraf's legal team was expected to receive a report on his condition before the next court hearing on Monday.
According to fresh television reports, a board of doctors at the AFIC is due to finalise a report Saturday evening which will recommend whether Musharraf’s treatment should be continued inside Pakistan or abroad.
The report will be given to the former dictator’s legal team which is expected to present it in court on Monday.
