ISLAMABAD: A special court Islamabad on Thursday ordered Pakistani law enforcement agencies to arrest former President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to execute the death sentence received by him on Tuesday.
“We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law, and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to D-Chowk (before the Parliament), Islamabad, Pakistan and be hanged for 03 days,” the court said in its 169-page detailed verdict.
The court’s detailed ruling in Musharraf’s high treason case justifies the sentence for the former military dictator, who seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1999 and resigned in 2008 amid public protests.
“As a necessary corollary to what has been observed we find the accused guilty as per charge. The convict be therefore hanged by his neck till he dies on each count as per charge,” the judgment said.
The court also said Musharraf was given sufficient time to defend himself in the case.
The 76-year-old former leader is currently living in a self-imposed exile in Dubai, and has been undergoing treatment for his multiple ailments.
“We are of the considered view that the accused in this high treason case has been afforded more than his due share of fair trial,” the court said.
“The accused, who has been given every opportunity to defend himself, has by his conduct in the proceedings only evinced his utter contempt for the law and legal institutions in this country,” the court said.
Gen. Musharraf’s conviction focuses on the suspension of the Constitution and imposition of a state of emergency in 2007. Neither Pakistan’s parliament nor superior judiciary had validated the action, which under the law is punishable by death or life imprisonment.
The judgment, of which short version was announced on Tuesday, marks the first time that a Pakistani military ruler has been held accountable for subverting the Constitution and an elected government.
Musharraf remained in self-imposed exile for several years but returned to Pakistan in 2013, after which former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif filed the high treason case against him.
He was allowed to leave Pakistan in 2016 for health reasons, which his lawyer had argued at the time were preventing him from standing trial on treason and other charges.
In his reaction to the court verdict, Gen. Musharraf said the death sentence by the special court was related to a “personal vendetta.”
“I will say that there was no need to hear this case under the Constitution but this case was taken up and heard because of personnel vendetta of some people against me and one person was targeted in this case,” he said in a video message from his hospital bed in Dubai on Wednesday evening, before the announcement of the detailed verdict.
