Court hears Musharraf's review petition

Supreme Court of Pakistan Tuesday heard the review petition filed by former president Pervez Musharraf against the court's verdict issued July 31, 2009, against the 2007 emergency declared by him.

A 14-member judge bench of the apex court is reviewing the petition filed by the former army chief here, Geo News reported.

Musharraf's lawyer Ibrahim Satti Advocate said the former president was given the right to make amendments in the constitution and changes were made in more than 100 articles.

He said Musharraf issued a new oath for judges following the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in 2000 and that former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was also among those who took oath under the PCO.

A reference was filed against the former chief justice March 9, 2007 while the Supreme Court ordered his restoration July 20, 2007.

After the former chief justice was restored, the referring authority did not file a review petition.

Ibrahim Satti Advocate further argued that original draft of the PCO was not made part of the court's order.

On this, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani inquired about the content of the original draft. Replying to this, Satti said emergency was imposed Nov 3, 2007 after consulting the armed forces and chief of army staff. The governor, corps commander and chief of army staff were on board regarding the decision.

Former premier Shaukat Aziz had apprised Pervez Musharrf through a letter that the country was going through a constitutional crisis.

Ibrahim Satti said Musharraf issued three orders Nov 3, 2007. The first order was issued as the chief of army staff, while the others regarding the judges' oath was issued as the president of Pakistan.

When the case was initiated, Musharraf was not a party to it. The attorney general gave a statement saying that the government did not support the Nov 3 steps, Satti said.

Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani said parliament did not endorse the steps taken Nov 3, 2007. Ibrahim Satti said Pervez Musharraf received the notice April 22, but he was in London due to the threats he had received from the Taliban.

It may be mentioned here that a 14-member bench of the apex court had declared the Nov 3, 2007, emergency imposed by Musharraf as illegal and unconstitutional.