Musharraf's treason trial to open 'Pandora's box' implicating top military brass

In what will be the country's first trial against a military general for treason, legal experts in Pakistan have reportedly said that collaborators of former army chief general Pervez Musharraf may also face prosecution.

Clause 2 of Article 6 of the constitution, under which Musharraf will be tried, states that any persons aiding, abetting or collaborating with a person who abrogates the Constitution shall also be guilty of high treason.

Senior lawyer SM Zafar said that Musharraf's case would open the 'Pandora's box' and those who collaborated with the army general, including some high-ranking officers, will also face trial, the Express Tribune reports.

Although there is a divided opinion in institutions regarding the extension of trial to those who collaborated with Musharraf, constitutional expert Baber Sattar said that it will be difficult for Musharraf's counsel to justify that the collaborators endorsed his idea of the proclamation of emergency in 2007.

According to the report, the proclamation of emergency by Musharraf for November 2007 stated that the situation had been reviewed with prime minister, governors, and chairman of joint committee and chiefs of armed forces.

Jameel Ahmed Malik, one of the petitioners endorses government's decision to try Musharraf under Article 6 and his collaborators and has filed the petition against the general with names of several serving and retired high ranking military men which include Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Air Chief Marshal (retd) Tanveer Mahmood Ahmed, justice (retd) Muhammad Farrukh Mehmood, former Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum and former law secretary Mansoor Ali Khan, amongst others.

Former ambassador, B A Malik holds a varied opinion and believes that only Musharraf should be tried because he was the army chief and president and hence personally accountable for subverting the constitution and the whole army cannot be dragged into the controversy, the report added.