Acquit Mush, try Aziz and his cabinet for treason: counsel

*Farogh Nasim says NA endorsed imposition of emergency in 2007 so the then premier and cabinet be named prime accused and Musharraf be exonerated

*IHC rejects Musharraf’s plea for exemption from attendance in Ghazi Abdul Rashid case, tells him to appear in court on Nov 8 

Former dictator Pervez Musharraf’s counsel Barrister Farogh Nasim on Tuesday asked the court to acquit Musharraf in the treason case and instead consider the entire cabinet including former prime minister Shaukat Aziz as prime accused for the imposition of emergency in 2007.

Separately, an Islamabad trial court rejected Musharraf’s application seeking exemption from attendance in the Ghazi Abdul Rashid murder case and ordered him to appear in court on November 8.

TREASON CASE:

A three-member Special Court led by Justice Faisal Arab took up the treason case for hearing Tuesday.

Nasim argued that if someone says that Musharraf took the step of imposition of emergency as army chief then it would be considered as a step by the army but “the cabinet under the then PM Aziz endorsed the proclamation of emergency on November 6, 2007 and Sher Afgan Niazi, the then minister for parliamentary affairs, tabled the resolution on November 7”.

“The National Assembly endorsed the proclamation of emergency therefore the members of cabinet become the prime accused for endorsing it,” added Nasim.

“Musharraf was neither member of the cabinet nor did he attend the cabinet meeting which endorsed the proclamation of emergency,” said Nasim, adding that the then premier Aziz and his entire cabinet be listed as prime accused in the case and Musharraf be exonerated.

He further said that the law secretary sent the summary for appointing Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar as Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) and Musharraf appointed him as CJP on the recommendations of the then PM.

The court will resume the hearing of the case today.

NO EXEMPTIONS:

Meanwhile, the Islamabad trial court has rejected an application seeking exemption for Musharraf to appear in court and ordered the former president to attend court proceedings on November 8 in the Ghazi Abdul Rashid murder case.

Islamabad Additional Sessions Judge Wajid Ali took up the Ghazi Abdul Rashid murder case for hearing Tuesday.

Former president Musharraf did not appear in the court despite orders.

Musharraf’s lawyers filed an application seeking exemption from attendance for their client. They also presented a medical report which stated that Musharraf is suffering from backbone pain and hence cannot attend the court.

The counsels for the former president further argued that terror attacks occurred in district courts F-8 a few months back and therefore their client faced a security risk in attending the proceedings.

The Interior Ministry has also warned of terror attacks on the protest sit-ins in Islamabad and as per intelligence reports explosive material has also been provided to the terrorists, said Musharraf’s counsels.

They added that a letter had been sent to IG Islamabad regarding the security matter and therefore a report in this regard be summoned from him first.

The judge remarked, “You should have sought security in connection with attendance of your client but you have not sought security for your client from the police and instead you have given a proposal only.” The judge directed that the court be informed about the “improper” security arrangements.