Question Mark Over High Treason Case

The high treason case is the only case of its kind in Pakistan in which a former president, former army chief, and former chief executive of Pakistan were sentenced to death, but it was never executed.

On Tuesday too, Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa presided over a 4-member bench of the Supreme Court, which included Justice Mansoor Shah, Justice Aminuddin Khan, and Justice Athar Minullah. The bench heard a case related to an appeal against the death sentence awarded to Pervez Musharraf.

The background of the case is that on December 17, 2019, a special court headed by the former Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court sentenced former President Pervez Musharraf to death in a high treason case. Later, the Lahore High Court declared the formation of the special court as unconstitutional.

On behalf of former President Pervez Musharraf, lawyer Salman Safdar requested the Supreme Court to quash the sentence and argued that the constitutional requirements were not met in the case against Pervez Musharraf. The former president was sentenced on unconstitutional grounds. The appeal was not heard for a long time.

However, this month Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faiz Isa started the hearing while former President Pervez Musharraf passed away in February this year. In such a situation, an important question can be asked: what will be the legal status of the death penalty? Is the case against Pervez Musharraf reasonable after his death?

Lawyer Salman Safdar said during the hearing of the case on Tuesday that Pervez Musharraf wanted the Supreme Court to hear his appeal, but it was not heard for 4 years, and then Pervez Musharraf died. Now the family members of former President Musharraf are disappointed. Not interested in appeals.

Former Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Justice Athar Minullah, who is now a member of the Supreme Court bench, remarked that this decision will have an impact on future generations. Pervez Musharraf’s pension and other privileges are also likely to be affected as a result of the appeal; the lawyer asked for 7 days to contact the heirs.

According to the remarks of Justice Athar Manullah, the importance of hearing the appeal after Pervez Musharraf’s death is also that it may affect pensions and benefits, which obviously may benefit or deprive the family of Pervez Musharraf. The same sentence’s second part is also worth considering that this decision will have an impact on generations.

Pervez Musharraf was a former army chief, and as a former president, he also made the most important decisions in the history of the country. If it is unilaterally decided on the appeal that the death sentence awarded to Pervez Musharraf was correct, then we have to remember the ISPR’s statement that it would hurt the soldiers standing on the border.

Even today, Pervez Musharraf is respected as the former army chief by the soldiers responsible for protecting the homeland. In such a case, the decision of the high treason case is of great importance not only for Pervez Musharraf’s family but for the entire nation. The workers of the political party that Pervez Musharraf founded probably have the same feelings for Pervez Musharraf as a common soldier does.

However, the big test for the judiciary is to determine whether Pervez Musharraf, as a former army chief, was above the constitution or whether the special court headed by the former chief justice of the high court was constituted under or against the constitution. If it was an unconstitutional court, who were the influential hands who wanted to sentence the former army chief to death?