Justice Faisal Arab who is heading the special court trying former President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf for high treason on Wednesday ordered that the three- judge bench should be briefed by the head of intelligence agencies on the threats to the former army chief.
Justice Arab took note of the letter circulated by the National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) of the Ministry of Interior which was read out in court on Tuesday detailing various threats to Gen Musharraf''s life and said that the court should be told how serious it was. The Interior Ministry secretary is the complainant in the case. He said he had seen the letters dated March 10 and asked the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Interior, who was present in court, to tell the concerned officers to brief the judges in their chamber. He said the entire correspondence is from the Ministry of Interior related to the threats and they have been crying hoarse since day one of the trial. Justice Arab ordered the intelligence agencies head to brief the judges in their chamber at 1 pm on Thursday.
The prosecution said that the government was not taking the threats lightly and everyone was at risk. Prosecutor Tariq Hassan said that it was incredible that every time the accused has to appear something
incredible happens. However, he said the threats were being taken seriously and the chief of intelligence would brief the court on Thursday. Dr Hassan quoted from "Alice in Wonderland" and said matters were getting "curiouser and curiouser". He said the defence had read out a letter purportedly from the Taliban and today there was a denial from the outfit that it was targeting Gen Musharraf.
Senior defence counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada said that lawyer Anwar Mansoor could not argue his application Wednesday as he was unwell and demanded that the matter be adjourned till Tuesday. He said he was surprised at the discussion considering that Governor Salman Taseer's case was well known. The threat alert had specifically stated that Gen Musharraf was in danger of being shot by someone from his own guard. He was summoned again on Friday for indictment after he failed to appear due to security threats on Tuesday.
