Decision to hang Musharraf’s body at D-Chowk is wrong: Raza Rabbani

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Responding to release of detailed verdict of a special court in the high treason case against former president Pervez Musharraf, former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani has said that the decision to hang former Musharraf’s body at D-Chowk is wrong. In a statement, Raza Rabbani mentioned that those coming out in support of Musharraf were committing an historical injustice. Reacting to the paragraph, which attracted a lot of attention in the media over the past day, Rabbani said, “One cannot support Para 66 of the special court ruling. Legal recourse is available to those affected by para 66.” He noted that the affected person could go to court to have the para removed from the verdict. "The affected person can file an appeal against the verdict," Rabbani maintained. “Efforts are being made to give support to someone who went against the Constitution. Lending support to the one who went against the Constitution is an injustice to history,” the senator said. Rabbani also spoke out against the efforts of the government to invoke Article 209 of the Supreme Judicial Council against Justice Seth. Under the article, a judge can tried for misconduct by fellow judges of superior courts. "A petition against the court ruling cannot be filed under Article 209," Rabbani argued, adding that, "such a step would be in violation of article 10(A) of the constitution." Earlier, the special court issued a 169-page detailed judgment in the high treason case against former president Pervez Musharraf. A copy of the detailed judgment was handed over to the counsel of former president Pervez Musharraf. According to the detailed judgment, Musharraf had imposed emergency and violated the constitution on November 3, 2007. All allegations against him are proved without any doubt. Musharraf was given the right to fair trial. The accused is granted sentence for each offence. The court also ordered to bring the people involved in abetting his fled should also be brought in the ambit of the law and action should also be taken against him. The court also directed the law enforcement agencies to apprehend the convict and inflict the punishment on him as per law. “If found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan and be hanged for three days,” it ruled. On the other hand, Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court agreed to the decision to hang Pervez Musharraf to death, but he dissented from the decision of hanging him publicly. On December 16, the special court had handed death penalty to former president Pervez Musharraf in the high treason case.