SC annuls special court order to implicate facilitators in Musharraf treason trial

ISLAMABAD: Ruling in favour of a former chief justice’s appeal against implicating him in a treason trial, the Supreme Court on Friday annulled a Special Court’s earlier verdict which had ordered reinvestigating the role of facilitators in imposition of the November 3, 2007 emergency by former dictator Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Tariq Masood and Justice Tariq Pervez announced the verdict reserved on the petition filed by former Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar challenging the IHC’s refusal to hear his plea against the earlier verdict of the Special Court in the high treason case.

Announcing the verdict today, the SC bench remarked that the signature of former president Gen. (retd) Pervez Musharraf was present on the documents pertaining to imposition of emergency on November 03, 2007 in the country.

The Nov 3, 2007 emergency had led to the confinement of a number of superior court judges in their houses and sacking of over 100 judges.

The court maintained that the Federation considers Musharraf solely responsible for proclaiming emergency in the country, adding that implicating co-accused and facilitators in the treason case was the job of the Federation and not the Special Court.

The court directed the Special Court to complete the trial immediately without any delay.

On November 27, 2015, the three-member Special Court headed by Justice Faisal Arab had issued directives to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to investigate the role of various facilitators in imposition of the Nov 2007 emergency in the country, including former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and the incumbent federal minister for climate change Zahid Hamid.