Defence counsel for former President General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf, Dr. Farogh Naseem on Tuesday demanded that all those who aided and abetted in the proclamation of Emergency order on November 3, 2007 must be named and the special court should issue process to them so they can be tried jointly.
As the hearing in the high treason case against Mr. Musharraf resumed on Tuesday, Dr. Naseem argued an application, which said that only trying Mr. Musharraf would amount to selective prosecution and only one person cannot be arbitrarily picked, charged and prosecuted. It shows the malafide of the prosecution and such proceedings can be quashed, he said.
He also demanded the report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which was not part of the formal complaint filed in the special court. He said one of the investigators Hussain Asghar had filed a note of dissent which was not supplied to the accused and also a questionnaire was floated by the FIA as part of the investigation. “Why are they hiding all this and why should they withhold these documents,” Dr Naseem asked the court.
Mr. Asghar had reportedly recommended implicating some other officials and had opposed the trial only of one individual — Mr. Musharraf.
Dr Naseem said the complaint against Mr. Musharraf was based on the JIT report which was not made available. Under the law the statements of all witnesses recorded have to be supplied along with other documents and the trial cannot proceed till then. In the Proclamation of Emergency on November 3, 2007, the Prime Minister, governors, the chief of army staff, corps commanders and others were consulted, he pointed out and this was borne out in the Proclamation of Emergency order which was a public document.
Special public prosecutor Akram Sheikh said that Mr. Asghar was a witness in the trial and he revealed that a couple of defence lawyers were also questioned during the investigation. He said let things come at a proper stage and this was a case of documentary evidence and all papers would be submitted in due course. He asked the defence not to obstruct the trial and said there was nothing new in this application.
The special court will pass an order on the question of bias of the special public prosecutor Akram Sheikh on Friday.
In its application, the defence had demanded that the names of all the co-accused who aided and abetted and conspired allegedly, with the accused, finding mention in the promulgation of Emergency order dated
November 3, 2007, to be supplied to the respondent and process issued to them and they be tried jointly with the respondent. It also demanded the report of JIT including the dissenting report with all the statements of people who were made to join the inquiry and investigation. The hearing will continue on Wednesday.
