Attorney general submits reply in Musharraf treason case

Clarifies, interim government's prime responsibility is to conduct free and fair elections.

ISLAMABAD: The interim government's prime responsibility is to conduct free and fair elections, Attorney General of Pakistan Irfan Qadir said, while clarifying the government's stance in reference to a treason case against ex-president Pervez Musharraf, Express News reported on Wednesday.

“The interim set up is basically responsible to conduct free and fair elections,” Qadir explained. “[Government’s] reply may put a question mark on its partiality.”

Justice Jawad asked attorney general to submit this in a written form so that the court can pass an order regarding it.

“The government is not following the court’s orders. We expected the interim government to be more committed to the cause,” Justice Khilji remarked during the hearing.

Earlier, the attorney general had requested for more time to submit government's reply but it was turned down.

A two member bench, comprising Justice Jawad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, was hearing five identical petitions, seeking a trial against Musharraf for high treason and subversion of the Constitution.

The bench had earlier raised the question that why had the federal government not taken action against former President Musharraf for violating the Constitution?

The bench had also directed Attorney general Qadir and Acting Law Secretary Sohail Qureshi to submit a detailed response with regard to the steps taken by the federation to initiate criminal proceedings against Musharraf.