‘Hang Musharraf for high treason’

ISLAMABAD – Dr Abdul Basit, counsel for two PCO judges of the Lahore High Court, pleaded in the Supreme court on Thursday for proceedings against former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf for high treason and that he be hanged for “his unconstitutional acts of November 3, 2007”, which led to the ouster of over 60 judges of the superior courts.
A bench of Justices Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui, Jawwad S. Khawaja, Khilji Arif Hussain and Tariq Parvez, was hearing a contempt of court case against the superior courts’ judges who had taken oath under the PCO in defiance of a seven-judge bench’s restraining order of November 3,2007.
Dr Abdul Basit, counsel for Justice Shabbar Raza Rizvi and Justice Hasnat Ahmed Khan, told the bench that they themselves had already held Musharraf responsible for subversion of the Constitution and high treason.
He said the punishment for the offence of high treason under Article 6 is capital punishment, thus ‘hang Musharraf’. He said the principal accused was roaming and only judges of superior courts who took oaths during that period were only issued notices.
He said the impression of the judges who took oath under the annulled Provisional Constitutional Order 2007, should be diluted, adding that a set of judges who took oath to save the institution of judiciary should not be dubbed “Musharraf supporters”.
He said the court had the authority to send notice to all those who helped Musharraf in carrying out unconstitutional actions by violating a seven-member bench’s restraining order. Without their active support, he said, “a usurper” could not survive even for a day. He said the ongoing contempt of court proceedings against PCO judges were based on distorted views incorporated in the July 31,2009 verdict, which declared the emergency unconstitutional.
He said if those responsible had not been served contempt notices, the ongoing proceedings against the PCO judges would have been ‘lopsided’. He said the court was chasing the judges who took oath on Nov 3,2007 but ignoring those who administered them the oath. The lawyer said the proceedings against PCO judges were demeaning the dignity of the judiciary, as people were perceiving it as a battle between judges over their authority.
Justice Khawaja commented that he had a very fertile imagination.
But the lawyer said the bench was wasting time on such proceedings whereas it should decide other cases brought by the general public that were more important.
Earlier, concluding his argument, Justice (r) Abdul Hameed Dogar’s counsel Ibrahim Satti called the July 31,2009 verdict biased and said his client did not expect justice from the incumbent chief justice.