No direction given by CJP to special court: SC spokesperson

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Supreme Court spokesperson clarified that Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa had not given any direction to the special court regarding the matter of former president Pervez Musharraf’ case on Wednesday. In a statement, the SC spokesperson has issued explanation regarding the statement of the chief justice. “Fake and baseless news published about the special court decision which gave the impression that the CJP was personally involved in the proceedings of the high treason case against Musharraf,” it added. The spokesperson also rejected reports of an informal meeting between Khosa and senior journalists over the conviction of Musharraf by a special court. The top court rejected the reports, saying, “some misleading and out of context news items were aired/published by different TV channels and newspapers, without identifying any source, attributing these to the chief justice.” “The above news items created an impression that the CJP was personally involved in the progress of the case before the special court,” the statement added. The statement further clarified that different benches of the top court had been hearing different aspects of the case of General (r) Pervez Musharraf and had passed various orders for early dispositions of the said case. A day earlier, the special court handed down death penalty to Pervez Musharraf in the high treason case. A three-member bench of the special court headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and comprising of Justice Nazar Akbar of the Sindh High Court (SHC) and Justice Shahid Karim of the LHC announced the short verdict. However, one of the judge dissented from the sentence. According to the verdict, Pervez Musharraf had violated the constitution on November 3, 2007. It has been stated in the verdict that the violation of the constitution is proved against Pervez Musharraf and he is awarded death penalty under Article 6. The detailed judgment will be announced within 48 hours. The high treason case against the former president for clamping the state of emergency on Nov 3, 2007, has been pending since December 2013. He was booked in the treason case in December 2013. Musharraf was indicted on March 31, 2014, and the prosecution had tabled the entire evidence before the special court in September the same year. However, due to litigation at appellate forums, the trial of the former military dictator lingered on and he left Pakistan in March 2016. The special court had announced that it would deliver its verdict in the case today. However, the government’s prosecutor, Advocate Ali Zia Bajwa, said that they had submitted three petitions today.