MULTAN: Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has demanded that the government start the trial of former army chief Pervez Musharraf and his abettors from the Oct 12, 1999, coup.

All those who supported the coup also committed the violation of Article 6, and they should also be tried, Mr Gilani said at a conference on ‘Striving for Rule of Law and Significance of Independent Prosecution Service’ on Tuesday.

The conference was held by non-government organisation ‘Centre for Research and Security Studies’.

Gilani demanded a fair trial for Gen Musharraf, saying he himself was the victim of a biased trial. He said the Musharraf regime implicated him in cases such as giving jobs to people. He said he was asked to quit the party in return for withdrawal of cases against him. He refused the offer and a few years later he rose to the highest civilian office of prime minister.

He said while he was in power, certain elements again included in several cases to make those cases important.

“The main accused of Haj and Orgra corruption cases have been granted bail but he has not got any relief from media trial,” he said.

He said superior courts did not provide him justice and instead removed him from the office of the prime minister.

“How come a three-member bench changed the decision of a five-member bench and rejected the opinion of the National Assembly speaker in my case?” he asked the audience.

He said there was a history of denial of justice to the PPP as the courts upheld the sacking of Benazir governments two times.

He said when he moved the Supreme Court in 1996 against the dissolution of the National Assembly, the then chief justice Sajjad Ali Shah said to him he was still the speaker and could not pursue the case.

“What kind of justice is this?” he asked the audience. He said he was the only speaker after Maulvi Tameezuddin who moved court against the dissolution of the government.

He rejected the Protection of Pakistan Bill as a weird law.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan coordinator Rashid Rehman, Shaukat Ishfaq, Rana Qasiar, District Bar Association President Sher Zaman Qureshi and Deputy Prosecutor Abdul Wadood also spoke.