Musharraf's lawyer wants charges to be reframed

Lawyer says list of witnesses is incomplete, notifications issued from the presidency also missing.

ISLAMABAD: A day before a special court begins recording the testimony of Pervez Musharraf's treason trial, the retired general has  requested the court that the charges be re-framed in accordance to section 265-D through a second application.

The second application stated that "The principal of fairness also requires that the charge be re-framed and read out to the accused in light of the new documents and evidence which has been disclosed to the accused by virtue of this court’s order dated May 8, 2014. The accused deserves to be treated in accordance with the law."

The old charge was framed without providing the accused with all the necessary and relevant documents on the basis of which he made his plea, his application stated.

He revealed that before imposing the emergency a written summary was floated to him by then prime minister Shaukat Aziz in consultation with then cabinet.

He had affixed his signatures on the document strictly in terms of the constitution, he further revealed in the application.

“It has now been about 6 1/2 years since 2007, and the applicant does not maintain any record in respect of the summary, nor was it his official duty to do so. The custody of the said record is and has been the responsibility of the federal government, especially since the applicant exited from presidency in 2008,” he held in the application.

Musharraf also revealed in one of his applications that he had met the then governors, services chiefs, bureaucrats and politicians from July 1, 2007 till November 3, 2007.

The application stated that, “It is therefore most imperative that the protocol section of the President’s House in Islamabad be directed to submit all daily programs of the president from July 1, 2007 till November 3, 2007 before this court. Similarly, those persons meeting the president on these dates should also be made available to the court.”

“A similar exercise is to be conducted with regard to the President’s Camp Office in Rawalpindi, adjacent to the army house, so also the army house," the application further stated.

Besides seeking names and present addresses of services chiefs, corps commanders, all four chief ministers and governors during his tenure, Musharraf informed the court that his successor former chief of army staff general Kayani took no steps to lift the emergency of November 3, 2007.

“Therefore, this is also a fit case where the court may summon the relevant official record with regard to exit and induction of new army chiefs in 2007”, the application stated.

He said that the witnesses who have been named in the application in question are under the control of the complainant and the federation of Pakistan.

Trial documents provided by interior ministry incomplete

The former president had filed two applications on Wednesday stating that the documents provided to him by the interior ministry upon request are incomplete, Express News had reported earlier.

After the special court accepted Musharraf’s plea for access to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)'s probe report and other relevant papers, the interior ministry handed over the documents to the former president’s legal team on May 14.

Today, Musharraf’s lawyer Farogh Nasim said the documents provided to them were insufficient as the list of witnesses in the case were incomplete and notifications issued from the presidency were also missing.

Nasim had stressed that these documents were necessary for him to build a strong argument for his client and that the prosecution was deliberating withholding the papers.

A top interior ministry official had earlier told The Express Tribune that a number of close aides and members of the federal cabinet during Musharraf’s rule did not prefer to record statements regarding their alleged role in the proclamation of 2007 emergency rule by the former military ruler. Among these prominent aides are former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, four provincial chief ministers, services chiefs and corps commanders.

Musharraf was formally charged on March 31 for subverting and circumventing the Constitution by imposing emergency on November 3, 2007. Musharraf had rejected the charges levelled against him.

You can view the five charges levelled against him here.