November 3 emergency: Investigators hope to collect ‘concrete’ evidence by next month

FIA says it will get access to the site where the emergency was planned.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) hopes to make headway by the next month in collecting evidences against ex-military strongman Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf over his alleged role in the imposition of emergency back on November 3, 2007.

Despite a lapse of four months since the formation of the four-member FIA team, there has been no significant progress in collecting evidences to prepare a charge sheet required to initiate a treason case against the former president under Article 6 of the Constitution.

“We are expecting that by next month we will have access to ‘the place’ from where we will be able to collect some evidences about the November 3 emergency,” said a key member of the FIA team.

However, the official admitted that so far they had nothing concrete to prepare the reference against Musharraf; in spite of the fact the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had already announced to initiate the treason case under Article 6.

“Despite our more than three reminders, neither any focal person has been appointed by ‘the concerned authorities’ nor have we been given access to ‘the site’, where the emergency was planned,” said the official.

The official said they expected that after the expected ‘high-level changes’ by next month, this case would take its due course.

“We cannot make a reference without collecting concrete evidences from ‘the site’ and this needs the approval from ‘the concerned authorities’ and ‘a focal person’, who can assist and coordinate with the team,” the official further stated. “It seems that the issue will be resolved by next month,” he maintained.

Last month, soon after Musharraf’s bail in the Akbar Bugti case, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had a hurriedly called press conference and told the media that government would not allow Gen (retd) Musharraf to leave the country and that an FIA team had been asked to complete its working over the reference for subverting the Constitution on November 3.

Moreover, the opposition lawmakers in the Senate have also submitted an adjourned motion in the upper house, seeking debate over possible escape of Gen (retd) Musharraf from the country after his bail in Lal Masjid operation case,  where the police have already declared him ‘innocent’.



The opposition members are presently not attending the Senate proceedings to protest against the attitude of the interior minister, whom they blame for misleading the house by providing wrong figures about terror victims.

The senators, who belong to the opposition parties, alleged that the minister had intentionally compelled them to boycott the proceedings as the government wanted to get the house prorogued to avoid debate on the former president in Senate.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th,2013.