The Lahore High Court (LHC) has nullified the Special Court’s judgment which gave a death sentence to former President of Pakistan, General (retired) Pervez Musharraf in the high treason case.
A three-member bench, headed by Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, unanimously declared that the formation of the bench, which announced the verdict, was “unconstitutional” as it did not have the federal cabinet’s approval.
Additional Attorney General (AAG), Ishtiaq A Khan, appeared in the court on behalf of the government.
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He apprised the bench that before the formation of the bench, the federal government had directed the interior secretary to register a complaint against the former president.
Justice Naqvi, while hearing the case today, said that an emergency is part of the Constitution.
If a situation emerges, and the government imposes emergency, so would the government be also tried under a treason case? An emergency, if imposed, would be reviewed if it is or not in line with the Constitution. A precedent was set, so anyone who would find it suitable would do it.
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The verdict also said that the amendment in Article 6, under which Musharraf had been found guilty, was made in 2010; hence it could not be applied in the case retrospectively.
Earlier, a special court headed by the Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth, had sentenced Musharraf to death on December 17, 2019.
The judgment was challenged by Musharraf’s lawyer in LHC, saying that the ‘mala fide’ verdict was given in haste as his client was not heard by the court.
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