High Treason Case: Pakistan Army strongly reacts to court verdict

By Nasir Aijaz
AsiaN Representative

Islamabad: A specific portion of the special court’s detailed verdict released Thursday in the high treason case against General (R) Pervez Musharraf drew quite a lot of reactions from experts and analysts — both in mainstream and on social media.

The verdict, penned by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, sentenced the former military leader to death. However, Paragraph 66 of the verdict was the portion that drew an outcry.

It said: “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 the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan and be hanged for 03 days.”

Meanwhile, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said on Thursday that the fears of the armed forces have “proven true” after the special court issued its detailed verdict on the high treason case against Gen (R) Pervez Musharraf.

“The concerns expressed in response to the short verdict in the case against Musharraf have proven true today after the detailed verdict,” Maj Gen Ghafoor said as he addressed the press at General Headquarters.

DG ISPR said that the words used in the verdict were “beyond humanity, religion and civilised behaviour”. Responding to sections of the verdict criticising the army for political interference, he further said that Pakistan Army was “a responsible institution” and its soldiers “had taken an oath to protect the country”.

Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said that for the armed forces, “the country comes first and the institution [of the army] later”.

Speaking about the gains made by Pakistan Army, ostensibly in the war against terrorism, Maj Gen Ghafoor said a lot had been achieved over the last 20 years.

“We will not let this stability be reversed under any circumstances,” he said. “Pakistan Army will fail the attempts of external as well as internal enemies.”

The DG ISPR said that the armed forces knew how to defend the institution’s integrity and “will give an effective response to internal and external enemies of the state”.

“We have been fighting conventional wars, then sub conventional wars and now, we are facing a hybrid war,” he said.

“We know the nature of this war and how to fight it,” without specifying the connection of hybrid warfare with the issue at hand.

Going off on a tangent, the DG ISPR said that efforts were being made to weaken Pakistan externally. He said that some elements were trying to destabilise the country by making people fight with one another.

“Some people are dreaming that they can defeat Pakistan,” he said. “This will not happen. If we know about the threat then our response is also in place.”

The Director General said that Pakistan Army had successfully defended attacks from abroad and defeated insurgencies in the country.

” We will also fight the current design being pushed by anti-state elements,” he said. It was not immediately clear if he was talking about the judgement in question or some unrelated matter.

He said that the prime minister and army chief had spoken in detail over the verdict.

“The army chief met the prime minister and conveyed the sentiments of the armed forces to him,” he said.

The DG ISPR said that the government will soon inform the nation about the decisions taken during the meeting between the army chief and the prime minister.

He said that Pakistan Army and the government have been working for the past couple of years to take Pakistan into a direction where it is safe from prevalent dangers.

“We are taking Pakistan in that direction and we will successfully do so,” he said.

In the meantime, federal law minister Fsrogh Naseem in a press conference said that the government will file a reference against judges in the judicial council. займ онлайн срочно безработным