High treason case: After Nov 21 twist in Musharraf trial, four options on table

Govt weighs how to respond to special court’s order for inclusion of abettors

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government keeps blowing hot and cold about the treason trial of former military general Pervez Musharraf. It keeps weighing different options on a daily basis. After a passage of three weeks, the government’s legal team has come up with four possible options to deal with special court’s November 21order in the high treason trial case against Musharraf.

“The nature of this case is very complex. We have done our analysis. Law department has also given its opinion. We are waiting for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s final nod on this issue,” a senior member of the government legal team told The Express Tribune on Thursday. The government is not in a hurry and does not want to take any step which may complicate things, he remarked.



Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Zafarullah Khan, Law Secretary Justice (retd) Raza Khan and Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt are leading the legal team which is following the ‘wait and watch policy’.

The four possible legal options are as follows (1) To file a written petition against the special court’s order. (2) To file a review plea in the Supreme Court (3) To file a Presidential Reference to seek the apex court’s opinion on this issue (4) An amendment in the Constitution to deal with treason trial cases.

A senior law officer complained that top law officers of the Law Ministry are being kept in the dark. “We’ve never been consulted on the case,” he said. Information Minister Pervez Rashid, who has the additional charge of the Minister of Law, has never come to the ministry since the case commenced, he added.

“We are quite keen on pleading Musharraf’s case. In 76 consecutive hearings, we have never sought adjournment,” he claimed. In its first option, the government will prefer to go for appeal in the IHC against the November 21 verdict, another member of the team said. However, the government can file reference to seek the top court’s opinion regarding the inclusion of Musharraf’s abettors, he claimed.

In the legal team’s opinion, the government can file a fresh plea by forming another special court, said the officer. In case there arises a need to amend the constitution, the government will take up this issue after March 15, 2015 when it has enough numbers in the Senate to get such a legislation passed, he added.

President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain, under Article 186 of the Constitution, could send this reference to Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk for opinion of the apex court on this issue.

Akram Sheikh, counsel for the government, has suggested the government should challenge the special court’s order, the senior officer said. “Sheikh made it clear that he will not plead this case if the government includes other abettors,” he said.

A senior lawyer Ali Zafar was of the view that the government could also consider withdrawing its complaint to come up with a fresh strategy. As another option, the government could also implement the special court and include other abettors, he observed. “But most probably they will go for appeal,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2014.