Musharraf's party to challenge special court verdict against ex-army chief

The All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party of General (retd.) Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday that it would challenge the verdict of a special court, which sentenced the former military ruler to death in a high treason case.

A three-member bench of the special court, headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, found the ailing 76-year-old former Army chief, now living in Dubai on self-exile, guilty of high treason and handed him the death sentence.

The APML said that it was "appalled" by the decision of the special court which convicted the former military ruler without recording his statement and properly hearing his lawyers.

"We think this is an unconstitutional trial pursued in the most unconstitutional way without hearing his lawyer and giving them a chance to defend him," the party said in a statement.

The APML said it would file an appeal against the "one-sided decision". The party leaders are consulting their legal team before future course of action, it added.

The former president "is being made subject to political victimisation," it said.

The party maintained that the case was formed on "flimsy grounds where aiders and abettors were excluded from the case and its hearing and the former president was singled out, though the decision was taken after consultation with the cabinet members, chief ministers, governors and corps commanders".

In a separate statement, APML Secretary-General Mehreen Malik said that Musharraf would explore all legal options to get justice.

Musharraf's indictment for treason was a highly significant moment in a country where the powerful military has held sway for much of its independent history.

He seized power by ousting then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a 1999 bloodless coup. He has also served as Pakistan's president from 2001 to 2008.

He was sentenced for suspending the Constitution and imposing extra-constitutional emergency in 2007, a punishable offence for which he was indicted in 2014.

The former Army chief left for Dubai for medical treatment in March 2016 and has not returned since, citing security and health reasons.