Five high treason charges levelled against Musharraf

The Nawaz Sharif government has levelled five charges of high treason against former president Pervez Musharraf for his trial in a special court constituted for this purpose.

The 11-page complaint was handed over by Interior Secretary Shahid Khan to Abdul Ghani Soomro, registrar of the special court, Thursday for the trial of the former military ruler, media reported Friday.

The government also submitted a list of prosecution witnesses comprising M. Siraj, deputy secretary of the cabinet division; Mohammad Khalid Qureshi, additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA); Maqsoodul Hassan and Hussain Asghar, both directors of the FIA; Taj Umar Khan, deputy solicitor in the law and justice ministry; Talib Hussain of PTV News; Kaleeem Shehzad, section officer of the cabinet division; and Khalid Rasool, an inspector in the FIA.

The three judges of the special court, whose names were approved by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last month, are Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, Justice Syeda Tahira Safdar of the Balochistan High Court and Justice Yawar Ali of the Lahore High Court.

According to reports, the first charge is that Musharraf proclaimed an unconstitutional and unlawful emergency Nov 3, 2007 that kept the constitution in abeyance.

Secondly, on the same day he issued the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) that unconstitutionally and unlawfully empowered him as the president to amend the constitution from time to time.

The third charge is that the former army chief issued the unconstitutional and unlawful Oath of Office (Judges) Order, 2007, that compelled judges to abide by the provisions of the Emergency and the PCO.

Fourthly, Musharraf has been charged with subverting the constitution by issuing the Constitution (Amendment) Order, 2007, Nov 20, 2007, according to which Articles 175, 186-A, 198, 218, 270B and 270C were unconstitutionally and unlawfully amended and Article 270AAA added to the constitution.

The fifth charge is that he unconstitutionally and unlawfully issued Dec 14, 2007, the Constitution (Second Amendment) Order, 2007, according to which the constitution was unlawfully amended.

"These criminal acts of subversion of the constitution constituting high treason were personal acts of Musharraf for the purposes of his personal aggrandisement and a consequential vendetta," Dawn online quoted the complaint as stating.

According to a confident prosecution team, the trial will be quick and swift.

"The trial will be quick and swift and even if a challenge is filed in the Supreme Court against the holding of the case I will request the court to defer all such petitions and let me complete the prosecution of Gen Musharraf in 10 days," Dawn quoted Akram Sheikh, who is leading the prosecution team, as saying.

Earlier in the day, the special court issued summons to Musharraf to appear before it Dec 24 to face high treason charges, Xinhua reported.

Musharraf took over in a bloodless coup when he dismissed the government of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999.

It is the first time in Pakistan's 66-year history that a former military leader will be tried for high treason.

In June, Sharif announced high treason trial of Musharraf in his speech to the National Assembly or lower house of parliament less than three weeks after returning to power following his PML-N party's victory in the general elections.

The 69-year-old former army chief stays at his farmhouse in Islamabad after he got bail in three high profile cases, including the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf, who had gone into exile in 2008, returned to the country in March this year to take part in parliamentary elections in May. However, a court disqualified him from contesting the polls.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan earlier said Musharraf cannot leave the country as his name was included in the list of those who are barred from going abroad.