Courts should not have double standard: Khosa
Former Punjab governor urges courts to dispense equal justice
PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Courts should not have double standards, former Punjab governor says.
“Courts should dispense equal justice,” said Latif Khosa, who is also the Pakistan Peoples Party central leader, while addressing a press conference at Zardari House in Islamabad on Tuesday.
“It is written in the Charter of Democracy 2006 that Supreme Court and constitutional courts should be separate, but Nawaz Sharif did not agree to it and today he is paying the price,” said Khosa.
Elaborating further, he said, “Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s name was put on the Exit Control List, but the then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar permitted him to go abroad.
The former governor said, “Imran Khan isn’t an elected prime minister, but a selected one as the country’s affairs are being decided outside parliament.”
Khosa said Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007. “Eleven years are about to pass since the incident and the Rawalpindi city police station inspector presented a charge-sheet against unidentified persons.”
Giving further details, the PPP leader said, “On December 28, Brigadier Cheema held a press conference and that too on the directives of Musharraf.” He said on December 31, a JIT was formed.
“Rawalpindi CPO Saud Aziz ended Benazir’s security one-and-a-half-hour before the incident,” said Khosa. “Aziz was a regional police officer, but was brought to Rawalpindi and appointed CPO.”
He said Benazir’s postmortem, which is mandatory and does not require the family’s consent, was not performed.
He said Bilal and Ikramullah brought suicide bombers Rafaqat and Gul Hasnain. “When DNA tests were conducted, it was revealed that the clothes lying in Rafaqat’s house were of the suicide bomber,” he added.
Musharraf became a fugitive in the incident and the plotting was done by the high-ups because in such a huge incident the crime scene was washed after an hour of the crime, whereas the fire brigade staff wasn’t ready to wash the place but it was done forcefully, said Khosa.
“Musharaf deprived Benazir of security. Eleven years are about to pass … is Musharraf a fugitive or has he been made one? He distanced himself from the case and went abroad due to which the case is facing delays,” added Khosa.
In the case, the court sentenced Khurram Shehzad and Saud Aziz to 17 years imprisonment, while the Rawalpindi court suspended the sentences, he said, adding that the verdict was then challenged in the Supreme Court and Shehzad and Aziz’s decision was reserved.
In this regard, Asif Ali Zardari has filed appeals, he said, adding that the Peshawar High Court suspended the sentence of 74 military convicts, while the Supreme Court halted their release.
Courts should not have double standards, former Punjab governor says.
“Courts should dispense equal justice,” said Latif Khosa, who is also the Pakistan Peoples Party central leader, while addressing a press conference at Zardari House in Islamabad on Tuesday.
“It is written in the Charter of Democracy 2006 that Supreme Court and constitutional courts should be separate, but Nawaz Sharif did not agree to it and today he is paying the price,” said Khosa.
Elaborating further, he said, “Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s name was put on the Exit Control List, but the then interior minister Chaudhry Nisar permitted him to go abroad.
The former governor said, “Imran Khan isn’t an elected prime minister, but a selected one as the country’s affairs are being decided outside parliament.”
Khosa said Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007. “Eleven years are about to pass since the incident and the Rawalpindi city police station inspector presented a charge-sheet against unidentified persons.”
Giving further details, the PPP leader said, “On December 28, Brigadier Cheema held a press conference and that too on the directives of Musharraf.” He said on December 31, a JIT was formed.
“Rawalpindi CPO Saud Aziz ended Benazir’s security one-and-a-half-hour before the incident,” said Khosa. “Aziz was a regional police officer, but was brought to Rawalpindi and appointed CPO.”
He said Benazir’s postmortem, which is mandatory and does not require the family’s consent, was not performed.
He said Bilal and Ikramullah brought suicide bombers Rafaqat and Gul Hasnain. “When DNA tests were conducted, it was revealed that the clothes lying in Rafaqat’s house were of the suicide bomber,” he added.
Musharraf became a fugitive in the incident and the plotting was done by the high-ups because in such a huge incident the crime scene was washed after an hour of the crime, whereas the fire brigade staff wasn’t ready to wash the place but it was done forcefully, said Khosa.
“Musharaf deprived Benazir of security. Eleven years are about to pass … is Musharraf a fugitive or has he been made one? He distanced himself from the case and went abroad due to which the case is facing delays,” added Khosa.
In the case, the court sentenced Khurram Shehzad and Saud Aziz to 17 years imprisonment, while the Rawalpindi court suspended the sentences, he said, adding that the verdict was then challenged in the Supreme Court and Shehzad and Aziz’s decision was reserved.
In this regard, Asif Ali Zardari has filed appeals, he said, adding that the Peshawar High Court suspended the sentence of 74 military convicts, while the Supreme Court halted their release.