Islamabad Anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday formally indicted former president Pervez Musharraf in the judges’ detention case.
ATC Judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi resumed hearing of the case at Musharraf’s sub-jail in Chak Shahzad, where Secretariat Police presented a charge sheet against the accused.
The charge sheet was read in the courtroom in presence of the former military ruler, who strongly denied allegations.
After formally indicting the accused, the court adjourned hearing till June 21. Interestingly, public prosecutor Amir Nadeem Tabish was not present in court when the charge sheet was read out.
He, however, said police prepared the charge sheet with his consent. “Yes, I was not present today since my presence was not necessary at this stage… when the process of examining the charge sheet starts I would be present to utilise my experience,” Tabish said.
In the next hearing, prosecution will provide evidence against the accused while the court will also record statements of witnesses.
In the first information report (FIR) of the case, registered with Secretariat Police Station in 2009, the former president is accused of passing an order to detain 60 judges of superior courts including Chief Justice of Pakistan Ifthikar Muhammad Chaudhry, after imposing emergency rule on November 3, 2007.
However, in a surprising turn of affairs, the applicant of the FIR backtracked from the case a few weeks ago, saying he could not purse the case anymore in greater “national interest”.
During Saturday’s hearing, Musharraf’s counsel Ilyas Siddiqui also moved an application for his client’s acquittal. The acquittal application was moved under section 265-K (power of the court to acquit the accused at any stage) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). In response, the court issued notices to procession and police.
The case is one of three against Musharraf in courts within Pakistan. He is also accused of involvement in a conspiracy to murder Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and the 2006 assassination of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Khan Bugti.
If he had hanged the judges instead of detaining them, Pakistan would have been a much better place now. I hope future dictators will take notice and learn from Musharraf's mistakes. Anybody who can rid Pakistan of the present lot of politicians will become a national hero.
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