ISLAMABAD: The legal saga of former president Pervez Musharraf continued on Tuesday as another petitioner entered the fray in the Supreme Court, while the special court conducting the retired general’s treason trial blamed the prosecution for delaying proceedings.
Headed by Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court (SHC), the special court resumed hearing the treason case on Tuesday. The court was hearing testimony from Interior Secretary Shahid Khan when it pointed out that the prosecution, instead of providing original copies of key documents, had presented photocopies.
Directing the interior secretary to produce the original letter that was the basis of the investigation into treason charges against the former military ruler, the court adjourned the proceedings till Wednesday.
Earlier, the interior secretary testified that “my predecessor Qamar Zaman Chaudhry (who is currently serving as chairman of the National Accountability Bureau) on June 26, 2013 received directions from the Prime Minister Office to constitute a team of investigation officers to investigate charges of high treason against retired General Pervez Musharraf”.
“There is a document on the record to that effect, signed by secretary to the prime minister,” Mr Khan told the three-member bench.
At this point, Justice Tahira Safdar of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) pointed out that the original copy of the letter the interior secretary was referring to was not available. She remarked, “You must be in custody of the original record, but you have only produced photocopies.”
Justice Tahira’s remarks jolted the prosecution into action and officials from the Interior Ministry began to frantically search for the original letter, but to no avail.
“We cannot wait for long, you have to find it within two to three minutes,” Justice Arab said.
The court also expressed its displeasure after Musharraf’s lead counsel, Barrister Farogh Nasim complained that the prosecution had not provided them with certain documents.
Justice Arab remarked that just last month, the court had ordered that the defence team must be provided all the relevant documents related to the prosecution’s case, an order that had not been fully complied with.
“It appears that the delay is from the prosecution’s side now,” he observed.
In response, lead prosecutor Akram Sheikh said that despite reservations, the prosecution had complied with what he called the bench’s “improper order” and provided the defence team copies of all relevant documents.
Perturbed by his response, Justice Arab reminded him to ‘be careful’ in his selection of words and asked him to file an appeal if he felt the court’s order was ‘improper’.
When Barrister Nasim pointed out that certain statements, including that of former Punjab Governor retired Lieutenant General Khalid Maqbool, was not part of the investigation report, Mr Sheikh told the court that Lt-Gen Maqbool had yet to file his statement. Sheikh said Maqbool wanted to study the inquiry report before recording his testimony, adding that a copy of the report was being sent to him.
“This should have been sent earlier,” Justice Arab observed.
He also warned the prosecution that they would have to bear the consequences if there were any loopholes in the complaint it filed in the treason case.
Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2014
