Says Special Court formation ‘unconstitutional’

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Lahore High Court on Monday termed the formation of a Special Court that issued death sentence to former President Gen. Pervez Musharraf “unconstitutional.”

Musharraf appealed in the Court in December 2019, against the death sentence verdict, seeking the Court to dismiss the Special Court’s judgement against him for being illegal, without jurisdiction and unconstitutional.

On hearing Musharraf’s petition, the Court also said that the treason case against the former President in which he was sentenced to death was not prepared in accordance with the law.

Though the three-member Bench of the High Court did not issue any statement regarding the validity of the Special Court’s verdict of sentencing Musharraf to death, the petitioner’s Counsel said that the decision stands void as the very formation of the Special Court that gave the judgement has been declared against the law.

The Bench, comprising Justices Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Mohammad Ameer Bhatti and Chaudhry Masood Jahangir, delivered the verdict unanimously. 

Musharraf was handed over the death penalty on Dec. 17, 2019 by a Special Court in Islamabad, on a case filed by the erstwhile PML-N Pakistani Government in 2013, for suspending the Constitution, by imposing Emergency in the country in 2007.

In his petition, the former President had requested the High Court to set aside the Special Court’s verdict for being illegal, without jurisdiction and unconstitutional, as it violated Articles 10-A, 4, 5, 10 and 10-A of the Constitution.

At present, the former Pakistan Army Chief is in Dubai, UAE.