2007 emergency record: Court reserves verdict on Musharraf’s plea

Prosecutor says documents have already been provided to the former president’s legal team.

ISLAMABAD:

The special court hearing the ongoing high treason trial against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Thursday reserved its decision on a plea filed by the defence team, seeking additional documents related to the 2007 emergency.

Appearing before the special court, Akram Sheikh, the chief prosecutor informed the three-member bench, headed by Justice Faisal Arab that the record of the investigation conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has already been handed to Musharraf’s legal team.

During Thursday’s hearing Sheikh informed the court that no summary was moved by the prime minister house to the then army chief regarding the declaration of emergency in 2007.

Referring to former cabinet secretary Masood Alam Rizvi’s statement, Sheikh contended that there was no exchange of summaries between the prime minister and the president’s office regarding the imposition of emergency in 2007.



The counsel claimed that the promulgation of emergency was discussed in the cabinet meeting for the first time on November 6, 2007. He added that it was not part of the agenda but it was discussed additionally as senior adviser to PM on law and justice briefed members of Musharraf’s cabinet about the plan.

After the prosecutor concluded his arguments, the court reserved the judgment on providing additional documents to the defence team. The decision would be announced on June 13.

Earlier, the defence team filed an application seeking additional documents including minutes of the 44th session of the National Assembly which was held on November 7, 2007 which endorsed the emergency rule in the county.

Additionally, Musharraf’s legal team led by, Dr Farogh Naseem sought a list of the cabinet members, including advisors , attorney general of Pakistan, governors, chief ministers, chief secretaries, home secretaries, inspector generals of police, members of the cabinet and provincial assemblies of all four provinces who held office while the 2007 decision was taken.

The defence also requested for copies of several notifications, including the one that replaced Musharraf with Kayani as Chief of the Army Staff and the letter written by then prime minister Shaukat Aziz to the former president before the emergency rule was declared in the country.

A list of all those persons who visited the former military ruler in the President House and the Army House Rawalpindi from July 2007 to November 2007 was also sought.

Sources familiar with the case said Musharraf’s counsel is expected to move another plea, seeking additional documents related to November 3, 2007 emergency and PCO during the course of this week.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2014.