PML-N to go for treason case against Musharraf, if needed
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will exert pressure on the federal government to arraign Pervez Musharraf for high treason if it found a solid base for such a case in the impending judgment of the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of his Nov 3, 2007 subversion of the Constitution.
Regardless of the court decision we will exploit every opportunity and use every platform for Musharrafs trial under The High Treason (Punishment) Act 1973, PML-Ns chief spokesman Senator Pervez Rashid told The News.
The PML-N, he said, would not only request but also put pressure on the federal government to register a high treason case because under the existing law this power lies with it. We will mobilise all constitutional, legal, parliamentary and political forums to get Musharraf tried, Pervez Rashid said. We will not let him off the hook because if we did so the posterity will take our dead bodies out of graves and ask why didnt we perform our duty.
Other PML-N sources said that their party was anxiously waiting for the judgment of the 14-member bench of the apex court to know what observations and remarks it would pass against Musharraf regarding his Nov 3 promulgation of the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), state of emergency and suspension of the Constitution.
They said that the PML-N would devise its strategy in the light of this verdict, which was expected to be handed down on coming Friday as the court was likely to complete the hearing of different petitions by that time after giving a week time to Musharraf to appear before it in person or through a counsel to present his viewpoint on his Nov 3 action.
These sources said that if the court directed registration of a high treason case against Musharraf and his collaborators and abettors, the PML-N would become a party to the case. In the normal course, they said, courts have been ordering registration of criminal cases against different people when the state or police refuse to do so.
Former Senate chairman Barrister Wasim Sajjad told The News that The High Treason (Punishment) Act 1973 has never been invoked and the prescribed sentence never awarded since its introduction. He said this piece of legislation was framed in pursuance of Article 6 of the Constitution.
This provision, which has been widely talked about during all the tenures of the successive military dictators as well as after their exit, reads, any person who abrogates or attempts or conspires to abrogate, subverts or attempts or conspires to subvert the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason. Any person aiding or abetting these acts shall likewise be guilty of high treason. The high treason act provides death penalty or life imprisonment for those found guilty of this offence.
Wasim Sajjad elaborated that there was a clear difference between treason and high treason. Treason is an offence under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) whereas a separate statute of law exists for high treason after the heinous offence has been provided in the Constitution. If someone works against the state, for example, by raising a private army, he commits treason but if he subverts the Constitution, he is guilty of high treason, he said.
PML-N to go for treason case against Musharraf, if needed