Defending Musharraf: ‘Emergency was imposed after consultation’
Shujaat says he backed the ex-general but opposed his move against judiciary.
Former president Pervez Musharraf. PHOTO: REUTERS
Leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain has said that the former president Pervez Musharraf had imposed emergency after consultation with his cabinet. No one dared to speak up in front of him in those days as they always said that whatever president has said is right.
Speaking to Muneze Jahangir in Express News programme “Achha Lage, Bura Lage”, he said that he supported Musharraf on principle and backed his plan of imposing emergency but had asked him to exclude the judiciary.
Chaudhry Shujaat said that the opinion of the army was also considered because it was the army that was to implement it. “How could the emergency be implemented without the consent of the army?” he questioned.
“Everyone in those days did say ‘yes sir’ to the president and did not want to make him angry,” he said. A separate meeting was held with top military brass of that time to discuss this plan, Shujaat said.
The PML-Q chief said everyone involved should be implicated in the case in accordance to the Constitution and the law. He said that treason case cannot be maintained against Musharraf without Army Act.
Musharraf’s decision about Lal Masjid was his personal judgment and he wished that Akbar Bugti be killed in the operation, Shujaat disclosed.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2013.