ISLAMABAD – Supreme Court upheld former president and military ruler General (r) Pervez Musharraf’s death sentence in high treason case.
A bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Athar Minallah announced the vedict.
Four years back, a special court awarded capital death sentence for ex-ruler under Article 6 of the Constitution for imposing an emergency during a civialian rule.
The country’s top judge declared the special court’s death sentence to former four-star general as correct.
Later, Lahore High Court voided the death sentence, calling the special court that held the trial as unconstitutional. Musharraf, who promised critical support for US after 9/11 attacks, died in UAE last year, filed an appeal against a special court’s decision of awarding him the death penalty on December 17, 2019 for suspending the Constitution in November 2007. The case then landed in the Supreme Court.
The apex court announced the verdict on appeal filed by former general against death sentence which was handed to him and declared ineffective for non-compliance.
The bench stated that Musharraf’s descendant did not follow the case despite several notices, and turned down the appeal. Musharraf’s counsel apprised court that he tried appraching family but the family never responded to him.
Musharraf was the 10th President and 13th former army chief who remained lime-lighted in Pakistan’s political, military and strategic fronts for almost three decades.
He could not maintain congenial and credible ties and entangled over certain political and National Issues. Drastically, he then-PM Sharif dismissed him and tried to prevent the plane carrying Musharraf home from landing at the Karachi airport. It was 12th October 12, 1999, when Nawaz Sharif tried to sack him while Musharraf was out of the country. Resultantly, the armed forces took control of the airport and other government installations and deposed Sharif, paving the way for Musharraf to become head of a military government.
