Treason trial: Prosecution witnesses’ testimonies completed

FIA says defence ministry has not provided documents regarding emergency

ISLAMABAD: The three-judge bench of the Special Court conducting the high treason case against former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday concluded recording statements of prosecution witnesses.

This was the 49th hearing of the treason trial of the former president, who is accused of subverting the Constitution by promulgating emergency on November 3, 2007.

During the hearing, Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Additional Director Khalid Qureshi, who was the head of the FIA investigation team, appeared before the court as the last prosecution witness.

Qureshi told the bench – headed by Justice Faisal Arab – that they had contacted Ministry of Defence for relevant documents regarding the November 3, 2007 emergency but had not received any document.

“Mohsin Hafeez, principal secretary to Musharraf, had told us that all documents related to army were taken away by Musharraf’s former chief staff officer General (retd) Hamid Javed,” he said. However, he said the FIA had not fixed responsibility for removing record from the President’s Secretariat.

Qureshi admitted that his relatives were members of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). “But the FIA team did not initiate investigation at the behest of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with mala fide intention to single out Musharraf,” he added.

The FIA official rejected that material against other persons, who facilitated or conspired with Musharraf to impose emergency, was suppressed. “It is also incorrect that Musharraf was falsely implicated in the high treason case,” he said, adding that the investigations were carried out on merit and independently on the basis of facts.

After completion of prosecution evidence the Special Court shall examine Pervez Mushar­raf and record his statement.

The court adjourned the case till October 1, 2014.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 19^th, 2014.