*ISLAMABAD – **Former Pakistani President and COAS General (R) PervaizMusharraf sentenced to death in high treason case.*
*A special bench has sentenced former president Pervez Musharraf to deathin a treason case under Article 6 of the Constitution. The law states thatany person who abrogates or suspends the Constitution “by use of force orshow of force” is guilty of high treason.*
The three-member bench, comprising Peshawar High Court Chief Justice WaqarAhmad Seth, Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court and Sindh HighCourt’s Justice Nazar Akbar, announced the verdict after two judges votedin favour of giving him a death penalty while one opposed it.
The interior ministry had petitioned the court, asking for it to order thespecial court hearing the treason case to delay announcing the verdict.
Musharraf was indicted in the case in March 2014 for suspending theConstitution in 2007. In 2016, he left to seek medical treatment in Dubaiand hasn’t returned since.
Read Top Stories
The special court was stopped from announcing the verdict on November 28.It was ordered to appoint a new prosecutor by December 5 and hear thearguments from Musharraf’s side before announcing any verdict in theinterest of a fair trial.
On December 16, the Lahore High Court issued a notice to the federalgovernment on Musharraf’s application challenging the high treasonproceedings against him. Musharraf had asked the high court to declare theproceedings against him as “unconstitutional”.
