- Prosecution witness in treason case says COS Gen Hamid Javed had taken away records thus no evidence could be found on November 3, 2007’s proceedings
- Musharraf’s counsel asks court to hear his application seeking inclusion of Musharraf associates on next hearing
During the Special Court (SC)’s hearing on treason case against former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf on Thursday, the head of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) probe team, Khalid Qureshi denied the existence of any advice sent by former prime minister Shaukat Aziz to Musharraf for imposition of Emergency on November 3, 2007.
The three-member SC bench headed by Justice Faisal Arab and comprising Justice Tahira Safdar and Justice Yawar Ali recorded the statements of all the prosecution witnesses in the case as the defence counsels completed their cross examination.
Replying to questions from Musharraf counsel’s Farogh Nasim, prosecution witness Qureshi told the court that Musharraf’s chief of staff Gen Hamid Javed had taken away the records pertaining to imposition of Emergency. The responsibility could not be fixed in FIA investigation with respect to this matter where Aiwan-e-Sadr’s record had been taken away, however, prime minister’s letter to Musharraf was on the record, he added.
Qureshi further said that a notice was not issued to Gen Javed for producing the record while his statement could also not be recorded during the investigation.
“Name of the person who was custodian of the record related to November 3, 2007 Emergency proclamation is not available in the record held by our investigation team,” he added, saying that nothing has come to light during the investigations if meetings were held by Musharraf with other authorities or any consultation process had taken place in this respect.
Moreover, Qureshi also denied taking “statement of choice” from former Cabinet Division secretary Masood Alam Rizvi.
Former secretary to the president, Mohsin Hafeez, also told the court that he did not have the record of the November 3 incidents as Gen Hamid had taken away all the records with him.
Musharraf’s counsel prayed the court to hear his application seeking inclusion of Musharraf associates on next hearing.
Prosecution’s counsel, on the other hand, said he had already filed his reply on this application in the court. The court should issue notice to Musharraf and summon him to record his statement while his associates could be included in the light of his statement, he added.
The hearing of the case was adjourned till October 1.
