Nawaz not to withdraw complaint against Musharraf: Prosecutor

20 pieces of documentary evidence submitted to the court along with CD of Musharraf's speech.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has fulfilled his pledge that he would not withdraw complaint against Former President (retd) General Musharraf at any stage during the trial, Akram Sheikh, public prosecutor in the treason case, confided to The Express Tribune.

“I’m happy with the progress of the case so far,” Sheikh said. “It was not easy to pursue such a controversial case but I decided to take this responsibility after getting solid assurance from the prime minister."

However, he further stated that this case is also financially damaging for him, as clients are not willing to hire him owing to this case.

“Federal Bureau of Revenue has initiated an inquiry against me for lower income this month than previous year,” Sheikh said.

According to Sheikh, this is a case of discrimination as Musharraf has been singled out for declaring emergency on November 3, 2007 but he added that the “abettors” can only be tried when someone comes forward and confesses his role as an abettor.

Sheikh further added that he has had a long history of strong family ties with the premier.

The prosecutor in the case is optimistic to conclude prosecution work soon.

Sheikh said that it is now up to defence team how long they want to linger on with the case, but from his side, work is almost complete.

A member of defence team told The Express Tribune that they will definitely drag the trial because conviction in this constitutional crime means no pardon even from the President of the country. He believes that they will provide a long list of “abettors” to the court to justify their stance that Musharraf did not take the step alone.

Costly justice

The high treason trial of the former president has so far cost the national kitty a whopping Rs57.2 million, the budget documents unveiled. However, the actual cost could be much more than this amount.

The Interior Division and the Law, Justice and Human Rights Division has sought over Rs57 million for the establishment of special court and miscellaneous expenses, according to the budget.

20 documents submitted to court

On Tuesday, an official of the law ministry submitted 20 more important documentary proofs related to the 2007 emergency rule before a three-judge special court led by Justice Faisal Arab in the treason trial against Musharraf.

During Tuesday's proceedings, leading defence counsel Farogh Nasim was not present in the court and his associate Shaukat Hayyat cross-examined an FIA official, Taj Umar, who presented documentary evidences against Musharraf for promulgation of emergency rule in 2007.

The evidences including attested gazette copies of emergency order of the removal of judges by Musharraf. The former army general is being tried under article six of the constitution in room number six of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC).

An assistant editor of Pakistan Television submitted a CD containing November 3, 2007 speech of Musharraf. The defence team cross-examined the official and could not extract something significant from him and it termed the statement of the PTV official Talib Hassan untrue. Hassan refuted the claim and said that he did follow instructions of seniors while providing CD to Federal Investigation Agency which inquires about the recoded speech citing their mandate to gather evidence against former military ruler.