On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rendered a decision that dealt with theappeals of two former army officers convicted in connection with aconspiracy to overthrow the government of Benazir Bhutto in 1995. Thehighest judicial authority in the land, represented by Justice MunibAkhtar, upheld the prison sentences that had been previously imposed onColonel (retd) Azad Minhas and Colonel (retd) Inayatullah Khan.
The verdict, delivered on February 15, 2022, marked the culmination of alegal battle that had persisted for several years.
The origins of this case trace back to 2016 when both officers turned tothe Supreme Court for recourse after the Lahore High Court had dismissedtheir pleas challenging the Field Court Martial’s decision.
This military tribunal had sentenced Colonel Minhas to a two-year prisonterm and Colonel Inayatullah to four years, in addition to their removalfrom service. After careful deliberation, the three-judge Supreme Courtbench, comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Munib Akhtar, andJustice Sayyed Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi, ultimately reached a consensus inFebruary 2022, concluding this chapter of the legal saga.
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The events that led to the arrests of these two army officers, along withretired Maj-Gen Zaheerul Islam Abbasi and Brig Mustansir Billah, date backto September 26, 1995. The charges against them revolved around an allegedplot to disrupt a scheduled meeting of corps commanders at the GeneralHeadquarters in Rawalpindi on September 30 of that year.
Their purported objectives included assassinating Prime Minister BenazirBhutto, Army Chief Gen Abdul Waheed Kakar, senior cabinet ministers, andmilitary leaders. Furthermore, they aimed to proclaim the establishment ofan Islamic Khilafat system, with Maj-Gen Abbasi as its leader
