After Pak Army, Imran Khan's govt defends Pervez Musharraf against hanging sentence

The Pakistan government, following the country's military establishment, has decided to oppose the Pakistani Court's verdict in awarding former dictator Pervez Musharraf death sentence for treason, by calling it "unfair". Objecting to the country's judiciary, Pakistan premier Imran Khan discussed the verdict given to the retired Pakistani General with his top party aides on Wednesday.  

Former Pakistan President and military ruler Musharraf was sentenced to death in absentia on Tuesday for high treason following a six-year legal case. He has been living in Dubai since 2016 after Pakistan's Court lifted a travel ban allowing him to leave the country to seek medical treatment. A three-member special court here convicted 76-year-old Musharraf of violating the Constitution by unlawfully declaring emergency rule while he was in power, under the Nawaz Sharif regime, in a case that had been pending since 2013.

A core-committee emergency meeting of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was chaired by Imran Khan, on his return from Geneva. The Pakistani Prime Minister was briefed by two lawyers about the sentence given to the former dictator. Musharraf seized power by ousting then-Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a 1999 bloodless coup. He has also served as Pakistan's president from 2001 to 2008. Special Assistant to the PM on Information and Broadcasting, Firdous Ashiq Awan, told the media that Barrister Ali Zafar and Advocate Babar Awan briefed the party leaders about the special court's decision against Musharraf.

Watch: Pervez Musharraf releases first video statement after death sentence in treason case

"It has been decided that the legal team of the party will brief the Cabinet before taking a formal stance over the matter after taking an in-depth view of the court's judgment," she said. Following Musharraf's sentencing, the Pakistan Army said that its former chief can "never be a traitor" and the verdict against him has been received with "a lot of pain and anguish" by the Armed Forces personnel. "The due legal process seems to have been ignored including constitution of a special court, denial of the fundamental right of self-defense, undertaking individual-specific proceedings and concluding the case in haste," 

Pakistan Army spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said in a statement. "Armed Forces of Pakistan expect that justice will be dispensed in line with Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan," Ghafoor stressed, piling pressure on the government. Pakistan Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa also weighed in and said the armed forces have brought stability by failing all inimical forces operating against the country. Gen Bajwa made a symbolic visit to the headquarters of the military's Special Services Group (SSG) where he praised their contributions towards the defence of the country since the creation of Pakistan. Musharraf has now become the first military chief to receive capital punishment in Pakistan's history.

Alarmed by the public stance of the Pakistan Army-led by Gen Bajwa, Imran Khan was quick to deploy two of his trusted aides to assuage the Pakistan Army to say that the government would defend the self-exiled, former President during the hearing of an appeal.  "I will defend the law in the case but not any individual," said Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan in a late-night press conference along with Awan.

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It was argued that the former dictator was not given the right of fair trial and the judgment was announced in absentia without recording the statement of the accused. Musharraf argued that the case was politically motivated and that he saw "personal vendetta." He further asserted that the actions taken back in 2007 were agreed by the government and the Cabinet.  “Such a verdict is unprecedented. Neither the defendant has been heard nor his lawyer has been given a chance to speak,” said ailing Musharraf in a video recorded from a hospital bed in Dubai.

Imran Khan, defending Musharraf, raised doubts on the "urgency in pronouncing the judgment when Musharraf was in critical condition in ICU" in Dubai. "There is no question that a person who had committed treason must be punished but in this case, the right of fair trial guaranteed under the Constitution was not ensured. A trial should not just be fair but also seen to be fair," he was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper. Pakistan and the UAE have no extradition treaty and Emirati authorities are unlikely to arrest Musharraf.

The charges against Musharraf stem from his imposition of a state of emergency in November 2007, after which dozens of top judges were placed under house arrest or sacked, sparking widespread street protests by lawyers. Musharraf's sentencing was highly significant in Pakistan where the powerful military has ruled the country for nearly half of its 72-year history. 

Musharraf on Bin Laden, LeT

A vital ally on the US' "war on terror," former US President George Bush had called the dictator a "strong defender of freedom." However, the former President of Pakistan, in an interview had admitted that the Mujahideens in Kashmir were "trained in Pakistan" to fight the Indian Army. He called the terrorists in Pakistan as "heroes"--including Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, his successor Ayman al-Zawahiri, Jalaluddin Haqqan. 

"Kashmiris who came to Pakistan received a hero reception here. We used to train them and support them. We considered them as Mujahideen who will fight with the Indian Army. Then, various terrorist organisations like Lashkar-e-Taiba rose in this period. They (jihadi terrorists) were our heroes," the dictator had said in an interview. 

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"We trained the Taliban, sent them in. They were our heroes. Haqqani was our hero. Osama bin Laden was our hero. Ayman al-Zawahiri was our hero. Then the global environment changed. The world started viewing things differently. Our heroes were turned into villains," he added. 

(with PTI inputs)