Observer Report
Islamabad
The special court hearing a high treason case against former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf will announce its verdict on November 28. After a passage of six years, the three-judge special court led by Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth reserved its verdict on Tuesday.
The case against the military dictator was filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-N government in late 2013 for subverting the Constitution when he imposed a state of emergency on November 3, 2007.
Musharraf became Pakistan’s first army chief to be charged with treason when he was indicted on March 31, 2014. He pleaded not guilty to five charges and dismissed them as being politically motivated.
The trial, however, could not be concluded over the past six years due to several reasons.
First, the special court initially directed the federal government to include three more individuals and initiate a treason case against them.
Consequently, the proceedings remained suspended for a couple of years until the Supreme Court set aside the special court’s order and directed it to proceed against Musharraf only.
In March 2016, the former army chief left Pakistan to seek medical treatment in Dubai.
