Musharraf to face treason charges, says Nisar

Says former dictator is on ECL, to be interrogated by FIA; denies ‘secret deal’.


Peer Muhammad/azam Khan October 13, 2013
Former president Pervez Musharraf. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD:


The 13th anniversary of his 1999 military coup proved to be adversarial for former military dictator Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, who, just days ago, seemed in the clear to leave the country to escape a raft of high-profile cases underway against him.


However, not only did the government confirm on Tuesday that the former military strongman is on the exit control list (ECL) and cannot leave the country, but the most concrete and serious of a raft of charges he faces – that of imposing emergency on November 3, 2007  – also seems to have come back to life.

Addressing a press briefing on Saturday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali announced that Musharraf was on the ECL and that he would have to face interrogation by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in relation to high treason charges for abrogating the Constitution.

The announcement came at a time the former dictator was rumoured to be on his way out after getting bail in three important cases and an application to put his name on the ECL was rejected by a court.

Even Musharraf’s lawyer had announced that the former army chief and president would fly to Dubai once he secured bail in the cases. However, a fourth case, pertaining to the Lal Masjid operation, stalled any potential move to immediately exit the country.



Chaudhry Nisar rebuffed rumours about a ‘secret deal’ that would see Musharraf leave the country without being subjected to potential punishment in any of the cases. “There is no deal to give safe passage to the former president,” he said. “Until a court does not order the omission of [Gen (retd) Musharraf’s] name from the ECL, the government will not spare him,” stressed Chaudhry Nisar, who added that there was no need for people to approach the courts to stop him from leaving.

High treason charges were initiated a few months ago by the current government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was the man Musharraf had deposed in a military coup back on October 12, 1999. The Supreme Court had referred this case to the federal government to initiate high treason case against the former army chief for holding the constitution twice into abeyance. Soon after taking oath as prime minister for the third time, Sharif had announced the move in Parliament on June 23. Later, the interior ministry, on the directives of the prime minister, had constituted four-member team of the FIA to probe the case.

However, the treason case has seen no headway since the announcement, leading many to believe that the government would not push the charges in order to appease the military, which may not want to see its former chief charged with treason. Chaudhry Nisar strongly denied these notions on Saturday.

He clarified that the treason case had not moved forward because the FIA team had not been able to access the former dictator, who was initially in remand in other cases including the Akbar Bugti murder case and the Benazir Bhutto assassination case. After he got bail from the Supreme Court, said Chaudhry Nisar, the FIA contacted him to move forward on the matter – however, he added, he was then rearrested by the Islamabad police in the Laal Masjid operation case, because of which the FIA could not get access to interrogate him.

Chaudhry Nisar also admitted that his former army associates were not reachable. “They do not take the FIA’s calls for recording statements,” he said, but denied that the current military high command is intervening in the matter. Despite this, he said, the FIA had succeeded in getting dozens of files pertaining to the matter.

ANP moves adjournment motion

Chaudhry Nisar’s press conference came a day after the Awami National Party (ANP) submitted an adjournment motion in the Senate seeking a debate on the status of the high treason.

The motion was submitted and signed by three members, including Senators Haji Muhammad Adeel, Zahid Khan and Afrasiab Khattak. The motion demands that
the government brief the house about the latest status of the case.

“We want that the dictator should not be allowed to flee the country as he has already obtained bail in different cases,” said senator Zahid Khan while talking to The Express Tribune. “Why is the government reluctant to expedite the high treason case against the dictator under Article 6; against a man who had abrogated the Constitution of Pakistan many times and toppled the elected government in 1999,” he asked.  Khan held that the government had adopted a policy of leniency under the pressure of Saudi Arabia.


Published in The Express Tribune, October 13th, 2013.

COMMENTS (2)

Last Word | 10 years ago | Reply

The fact of the matter is that the civilian govt is no position to oppose its powerful military who do not want a treason case filed against their former chief and pressure from Saudi Arabian govt makes it even more difficult to proceed on other cases filed against Musharraf, whose flight from the country is imminent before the end of this year.

Muslim Leaguer | 10 years ago | Reply

This is an unequivocal response to all the conspiracy-theorists who were "predicting" the Dictator's "safe exit" on the secret intervention of foreign governments.

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