‘Share all evidence with Musharraf’s lawyers’

ISLAMABAD: The special court trying former president and retired general Pervez Musharraf declined to record the statement of the complainant, Interior Secretary Shahid Khan, until the accused general’s defence counsel were provided ‘all necessary documents’ related to the case. The prosecution had, on May 14, handed over the Joint Investigation Team’s (JIT) report to the defence counsel on the directions of the court, headed by Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court (SHC). During Thursday’s hearing, Musharraf’s counsel Shaukat Hayat pointed out that the JIT had recorded the statements of more than 25 key officials. However, the statements of only 24 witnesses had been provided to the defence. He said that most of the witnesses were “advisers who had witnessing the seizure of documents, which can hardly be classified as important information”, adding that it was obvious that many more statements had been recorded, which were being deliberately kept from the accused. Justice Arab refuses to record statements; notices sent to federation on fresh petition The defence counsel maintained that the prosecution did not comply with the court orders as certain documents were missing in the JIT report. Justice Arab then told lead prosecutor Akram Sheikh, who insisted that the court record the interior secretary’s statement, that “You need to comply with the court orders, only then will the witnesses be asked to record a statement”. When Sheikh said the complainant only needed to testify to the fact that he had filed the complaint, only that he had filed the complaint and nothing else, Justice Arab remarked that being the complainant in this matter, the secretary was a key witness. Mr Sheikh then assured the court that the prosecution would review the case records and if there had been an oversight, it would be rectified by Friday morning. The special court also issued notices to the federal government on a fresh petition filed by Musharraf’s lawyers, seeking details of the entire record, names of services chiefs, chief ministers, governors, members of federal and provincial cabinets who met the former military ruler prior to imposition of emergency on November 3, 2007. Filed by defence lawyers Farogh Nasim and Faisal Hussain, the petition refers to the report prepared by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which was handed over to the defence lawyers on May 14 on court orders. The petition pointed out that the JIT concluded with the recommendation that, “The team recommends that the competent authority may also take into account the role of various facilitators in the unconstitutional proclamation of Emergency on 3rd November, 2007.” It goes on to say, “It is the (plea) of the accused person (Musharraf) that he purely acted upon the advice of the prime minister (Shaukat Aziz) and members of the cabinet”. The petition maintains that Musharraf imposed the emergency in the capacity of chief of army staff (COAS), but relinquished the charge on November 27, 2007. But his successor, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, did not lift the emergency until nearly two weeks after his appointment, on December 15, 2007. The petition requests the court to direct the prosecution to provide the “notification dated December 15, 2007, termed ‘Revocation of Proclamation of Emergency Order, 2007’, whereby the emergency of November 3, 2007 was lifted”. The document was also signed by Pervez Musharraf in his capacity as president of Pakistan. The petition said that the “accused have been able to (acquire) a copy of the resolution of the National Assembly passed in its 44th Session, dated November 7, 2007, in which the proclamation of emergency dated November 3, 2007 has been unanimously endorsed. The accused has also found on the internet a list of members of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007. Therefore, this is a fit case where this Honourable Court may be pleased to summon the relevant documents”. “The accused had met the ‘then-governors, service chiefs, bureaucrats and politicians from July1, 2007 to November 3, 2007… In this regard the security in charge of the President’s House should submit the names of all persons who entered and exited the President’s House in this time,” the petition maintains. It also asks for similar records to be obtained from President’s Camp Office at Rawalpindi, adjacent to the Army House. Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2014