Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf dies after prolonged illness at Dubai hospital

[MenInG]

Former military dictator Pervez Musharraf, who usurped power after a coup in October 1999 and ruled Pakistan till 2008, breathed his last at age of 79 in Dubai, after a protracted battle with a rare disease, amyloidosis.

The news of his death first emerged on social media in the morning before making it to the mainstream media following confirmation by the Pakistani consulate in Dubai and the family of the former army chief. The condition of the former dictator was said to be critical for the past few months, as his organs started to fail due to the fatal illness.

The body of Mr Musharraf, who will be laid to rest in Karachi, will be brought back to Pakistan thro*ugh a special flight that would leave for Dubai on Monday (today). In order to facilitate his family in the process of repatriation, the Cons*ulate General of Pakistan in Dubai has also issued a no-objection certificate (NOC). “We are in touch with the family and the consulate will facilitate in whatever way it can; the consulate has issued the no-objection certificate,” a media report quoted Consul General Hassan Afzal Khan as saying.

 

[Major]

1. Yes Pak does posses ICBM but doesnt even need this as its has plenty in range of many US bases inc in the middle east.

2. There is no nuclear policy which would stop a nation from deploying if being bombed backed to the stone age. You and Zardari might run but the armed forces has a duty to defend the nation be vaparised.

3. US bases in Afghanistan, I wrote this earlier.

Cowardly thinking is what had held back Pakistan which Mushy showed.

1. Pakistan did not posses such during the early 2000s, afghanistan war started in the early 2000s not in 2020.
2. Every nuclear country has a nuclear policy and that policy matters more than using the nukes itself. If Pakistan decided to attack a base of a country they would also be attacking the country hosting that base. Basically picking a war with two countries.
BTW, i dont have to run, you ran away from the nation a very long time ago to settle in UK.

3. So you are saying that we have such nukes that it will only attack the perimeter of the US base and not affect the rest of Afghanistan?
It does not work that way.

By the now, you have really made the discussion into a joke and trying to clutch straws here by going over the bases point which makes no logic.

Mushraffe was a traitor who should had been hanged for disobeying the constitution, but joining the war against terrorism was the right decision

 

[MenInG]

Former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf will be brought back home one last time for burial in a country he had governed with absolute power -- leaving behind a trail of a long eventful rule of the last military junta in Pakistan's chequered history.

He was under treatment for a rare disease at American Hospital in Dubai and died early Sunday.

From leading the country into war and positioning Pakistan as a front-line state in the post-9/11 war on terrorism, to ushering in an era of peace talks with India and being indicted for high treason in his twilight years before he cast himself into exile, Musharraf has left behind a legacy subject to some open questions as well as some unrivalled distinctions.

However, more importantly, his reign will stand out for almost resolving long-festering issues between India and Pakistan after back-channel talks between the two countries made unprecedented major progress on the issue of Kashmir.

When on October 12, 1999, then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif removed army chief Gen Pervez Musharraf and appointed ISI Chief Lt General Zaiuddin Butt as his successor, the move was meant to try the sacked four-star general and four other high-ranked officers for the Kargil misadventure.

Musharraf was accused of initiating the Kargil operation without informing Nawaz and the misadventure was aimed at sabotaging the peace process between Pakistan and India.

Months before the Kargil war, the then-Indian premier, Atal Behari Vajpayee, had travelled to Lahore via bus in a historic visit that rekindled hopes for a new beginning in ties between the newly declared nuclear South Asian neighbours.

But the decision to sack Musharraf backfired as his subordinate generals moved swiftly and removed Nawaz from power.

While the 1999 military coup was attributed to the months of bickering between Nawaz and Musharraf, it was differences between the civil and military leadership on the issue of India that derailed the elected government.

However, after becoming the military ruler, General Musharraf had now a bigger role and that was not just to manage the army but the entire country. This was when his worldview, particularly his approach towards India, changed.

The same Musharraf, who scuttled the promising peace process between India and Pakistan, started following the footsteps of Nawaz seeking rapprochement with New Delhi. In fact, he went a few steps further to reach out to India since being the army chief he had that luxury and control over the security establishment.

The famous Agra summit between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee might have collapsed but it laid the foundation for future engagements between the two countries.

India, knowing that past efforts to resolve issues with Pakistan failed since the civilian governments didn't have much say on ties with New Delhi, thought that perhaps it was the best time to bury the past when Pakistan was ruled by a military dictator, who had the final power.

The two sides then ushered into an era of peace talks both covert and overt that raised the genuine prospects of resolving the longstanding Kashmir dispute.

The peace process between 2004 to 2007 was seen as a most productive phase where tangible progress was made on several key issues including Kashmir.

Brokered by the US, the two countries entered into a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC), a de facto border that divides Kashmir. People-to-people contacts were encouraged. Both sides issued thousands of visas for bilateral cricket series.

The movement of Kashmiris living on both sides of LoC was made easy. Trade routes were opened in the disputed territory.

All this was supposed to culminate in a summit meeting between Gen Musharraf and then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh in early 2007.

The two countries were set to sign Sir Creek and Siachen agreements during the much-anticipated visit of the Indian Prime Minister.

More importantly, back-channel talks between the two countries made major progress on the issue of Kashmir.

The two sides were discussing an out-of-box solution with the exchange of non-papers.

There was a four-point formula that envisaged making the LoC irrelevant, joint control of the disputed territory, allowing free movement of people on both parts kf Kashmir and eventually withdrawing troops.

Former foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri wrote in his book that both countries were close to striking a deal.

But when the visit of Manmohan Singh was being planned, Gen Musharraf unceremoniously removed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in March 2007. The sacking triggered a strong reaction from the lawyers' community.

The movement later was joined by political parties making Musharraf highly unpopular. The lawyers' movement caused such political instability that Manmohan's visit never materialised. Had there been no political upheaval in Pakistan, the two countries might have reached a deal on Kashmir.

Some believed that even Musharraf's own generals were not happy with him at the time the way he sought the settlement of Kashmir. They were of the view that those generals used the lawyers' movement to discredit their own boss in order to make sure Musharraf could not strike any deal with India on Kashmir.

Express Tribune

 

[MP2011]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“Pervez Musharraf, Former Pakistani President, Dies of Rare Disease”: once an implacable foe of India, he became a real force for peace 2002-2007. I met him annually in those days at the <a href="https://twitter.com/UN?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@un</a> &found him smart, engaging & clear in his strategic thinking. RIP <a href="https://t.co/1Pvqp8cvjE">https://t.co/1Pvqp8cvjE</a></p>— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/status/1622120808901652480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

New Delhi: Under fire from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for calling former Pakistan President and chief of Army staff Pervez Musharraf, who died on Sunday, "a real force for peace", senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor today hit back at the BJP. He questioned why the earlier BJP government under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee negotiated a ceasefire with Mr Musharraf.

"Question to BJP leaders frothing at the mouth: if Musharraf was anathema to all patriotic Indians, why did the BJP Government negotiate a ceasefire with him in 2003 & sign the joint Vajpayee-Musharraf statement of 2004? Was he not seen as a credible peace partner then?" Mr Tharoor tweeted on Sunday.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/sha...t-asks-this-3756369#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

 

[MP2011]

sanghis have to be most vile species in entire universe.

So one can't even give condolence messages for deceased. One needs to take their permission for condoling someone's death, it seems!

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Question to BJP leaders frothing at the mouth: if Musharraf was anathema to all patriotic Indians, why did the BJP Government negotiate a ceasefire with him in 2003 & sign the joint Vajpayee-Musharraf statement of 2004? Was he not seen as a credible peace partner then?</p>— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShashiTharoor/status/1622440124213772289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

If he was a CIA paid stooge, why would he start a war with India?

He was no one’s stooge. He didn’t sell his citizens out of loyalty for CIA or US. He sold it cause of money. It’s the same reason why he launched a war with India. Writing was on the wall for the armed forces that with peace between the two countries, military spending would’ve taken a substantial hit. And the armed forces could not afford it.

 

[Local.Dada]

Usually the rhetoric I hear from Pakistan media is how India especially RSS/ Hindutva parties don’t acknowledge or accept Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Vajpayee an out and out RSS man and BJP’s tallest leader stood on minar-e-Pakistan and dispelled that myth.

However within weeks Kargil was started and by all accounts without the knowledge of the ruling government at that time (Nawaz Sharif).

Result was everything back to square 1 and ironically the myth about India not accepting Pakistans sovereignty continues till this day heard even on this forum many times.

Once in power Musharraf also started aman-ki-asha and extended olive branch to the same government he hates.

Also the economy booming in his time is a myth. The money coming in was US aid for war on terror. It’s not like Musharraf started an educational or Industrial Revolution in Pakistan. Pakistanis themselves talk about the losses they endured during war on terror. So how can there be a booming economy during those times?

Can’t speak ill of the dead but that’s Gen Musharraf’s legacy from an Indian pov. If some Pakistanis celebrate or mourn his loss, I can respect that and will stay out.

 

[KingKhanWC]

1. Pakistan did not posses such during the early 2000s, afghanistan war started in the early 2000s not in 2020.
2. Every nuclear country has a nuclear policy and that policy matters more than using the nukes itself. If Pakistan decided to attack a base of a country they would also be attacking the country hosting that base. Basically picking a war with two countries.
BTW, i dont have to run, you ran away from the nation a very long time ago to settle in UK.

3. So you are saying that we have such nukes that it will only attack the perimeter of the US base and not affect the rest of Afghanistan?
It does not work that way.

By the now, you have really made the discussion into a joke and trying to clutch straws here by going over the bases point which makes no logic.

Mushraffe was a traitor who should had been hanged for disobeying the constitution, but joining the war against terrorism was the right decision

Its like talking to Zardari himself.

Its simple.

IF A NATION is being bombed to the stone age, ie this mean every major city in Pakistan will be attacked with huge force for destruction. The nation has nukes and will use them how they can .

You believe Pakistan would be sit back and be blown to bits but wont use their nukes? )

Pakistan had the ballistic missiles to destroy the world and also adapted the F16's to carry nuclear warheads which could destroy dozens of US bases and in destroying Israel.

Nuclear policy means nothing if you are being destroyed as a nation.

Your arguments are embarrassing to read.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Rest in peace.

Musharraf had an undeniable charisma as a military leader turned dictator / President which is why so many people have a soft corner for him despite the fact that his resume is full of a lot disastrous mistakes. I guess it’s a lot easier to be cool when you do not have to stress about winning a fair election.

 

[MenInG]

A special aircraft carrying the mortal remains of former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf arrived from Dubai on Monday, landing at the Karachi airport's Terminal One.

His family arrvied with the former general's remains.

The ex-army chief will be laid to rest at the Old Army graveyard in the port city. His funeral prayers will be offered at Gul Muhar Polo Ground in Malir Cantt tomorrow (Tuesday) after Zuhr prayers, said a spokesman for Musharraf's political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML).

 

[MenInG]

Despicable.

Someone needs to teach these people the basics of our religion.

==

Members of parliament in the Senate refused to offer fateha (prayers) for former president Pervez Musharraf on Monday, calling the former military dictator a traitor of the nation.

The issue turned into a heated debate when Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani called on Senator Mushtaq Ahmed to offer prayers for those affected by the deadly earthquake in Turkiye and Syria as well as Pervez Musharraf, who passed away in Dubai on Sunday at the age of 79.

 

[Savak]

I am laughing at people who criticize him for bowing down to the American's after 9/11. People do not realize or remember that time period where the American's were seething for revenge and wanted to bomb their adversary to stone age. Musharraf in his autobiography with his fellow generals had even war gamed a scenario where they said no to the US for their request for bases, supply routes and the result was the American's would have reduced Pakistan to rubbles within a week. Also people need to remember American's had a Plan B in India and the then Indian govt under BJP had expressed their willingness to the US with regards to providing bases.

Pakistan had no choice and it was not in Pakistan's interest to support the Taliban and Al Qaeda. These are the same people who have wrecked havoc in Pakistan. Under Musharraf Pakistan's economy was stable and he had briefly repaired the damage the decade of misrule the PPP and PML N administrations had inflicted upon Pakistan from 1988 to 1999.

He should have found a soft solution to Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry's judicial activism, as time has proven Iftikhar Chaudry was a PML N person and all of his interferences were inflicted against Musharraf and PPP but he turned a blind eye to the excesses by PML N. The then American administration of George W Bush also blundered by pressurizing Musharraf to compromise with PPP as they wanted Benazir as prime minister under Musharraf's supervision but that plan went out of the window when Zardari did what he did and Musharraf's plans flopped.

His biggest and most unpardonable mistake which he himself admitted was the NRO which gave us the subsequent 10 years of PPP and PML N where these two parties wrecked our economy and country like no tomorrow where even Bangladesh over took Pakistan. The real architects of the NRO were the two Chaudhry brothers who influenced Musharraf that Benazir and Zardari were getting acquitted in all of their cases and the cases weren't really progressing therefore it didn't really matter if he granted them an NRO or not.

Musharraf knew what the PPP and PML N were going to do once he was out of the picture and his final words in his resignation speech on August 18, 2008 were "Allah Hee Pakistan Kee Hifazat Kare"

I hope people remember him for his good time period from 1999 to 2006 because trust me it is much better than we saw under PPP, PML N and Bajwa

 

[Savak]

Musharraf was betrayed by General Ashfaq Kayani the then COAS who turned out to be Zardari's man. Some sources close to the ex late president claimed that Musharraf kept saying trusting Kayani was the biggest mistake he made as President.

 

[MenInG]

Former army chief and military ruler retired General Pervez Musharraf’s funeral prayers were Polo Ground in Karachi’s Malir Cantonment on Tuesday afternoon.

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Sahir Shamshad as well as senior serving and retired army officers attended the funeral.

The ex-president, who passed away in Dubai on Feb 5, will be laid to rest at an army graveyard near Kala Pull, All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) spokesperson Tahir Hussain said in a statement to Dawn.com.

The spokesperson said former army chiefs Qamar Javed Bajwa, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Aslam Beg were among those attended the funeral.

DAWN

 

[ex-q-zit]

Pervez Musharraf, ex-military ruler of Pakistan, laid to rest

Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who backed the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks, has been buried at a cemetery in the southern city of Karachi with “full military honours”.

Musharraf died of prolonged illness on Sunday at age 79 in Dubai, where he had been living since 2016. He was suffering from amyloidosis, a rare disease that causes organ damage.

Tahir Hussain, a spokesperson for Musharraf’s political party All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), said the former president’s funeral was attended by former army chiefs, senior military officials, and political figures.

“Recently retired army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, former chiefs [Mirza] Aslam Beg, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, as well as former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence General [Ahmad] Shuja Pasha were all in attendance in the funeral prayer,” Hussain told Al Jazeera.

Hussain said that an estimated 3,000-4,000 people attended the funeral prayers at the Malir military cantonment despite strict security. Musharraf’s body was then taken to the army graveyard 20km (12 miles) to the southwest for burial.

Ishaq Khan Khakwani, a former state minister under Musharraf’s rule, who also attended the funeral, said people belonging to all walks of life were present.

Joined so-called ‘war on terror’

Musharraf’s body was brought back to Pakistan on Monday night on a special flight, accompanied by his wife Sehba, and his two children Bilal and Ayla.

Musharraf was handpicked by then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as chief of Pakistan’s army in 1998. But he seized power a year later in a bloodless coup after Sharif tried to remove him as the army chief.

Under Musharraf’s tenure, Pakistan became a key US ally and joined its so-called “war on terror” after the deadly attacks on September 11, 2001.

The former military ruler’s nine-year tenure is remembered for gross human rights violations in the South Asian country. He also allowed the US to carry out air raids in Pakistan’s tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

He resigned as the army chief in 2007 to become president. The same year, Musharraf imposed a state of emergency in the country to suppress massive, nationwide protests against his rule.

In December of 2007, one of his main critics, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated in an attack in the city of Rawalpindi during an election rally. The family of the slain leader accused the general of being behind the killing, which Musharraf denied.

In the general elections held in February 2008, Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party emerged victorious. Faced with a threat of impeachment, Musharraf subsequently resigned as the president and eventually left the country for Dubai.

He divided his time between London and Dubai during his self-exile.

Treason trial

In 2010, Musharraf founded the All Pakistan Muslim League political party, but suffered a humiliating defeat in the 2013 general elections. Sharif, whom Musharraf had deposed in 1999, came back to power. Musharraf himself was disqualified a month before the 2013 polls.

Sharif’s government initiated a treason trial against Musharraf for suspending the country’s constitution twice during his rule.

In December 2019, a special court found him guilty in absentia of high treason and subverting the constitution and sentenced him to death.

The director of the Pakistan Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center, Uzair Younus, said that while the former general has passed away, “the long and dark shadow of his reign continues to haunt Pakistan”.

“While some, such as citizens of Karachi, still fondly remember him for the development they saw during his era, when these benefits are weighed against the costs incurred by generations of Pakistanis during and after his dictatorship, it is quite clear that generations of Pakistanis lost out due to the choices that Musharraf made,” Younus told Al Jazeera.

Al-Jazeera

 

[MenInG]

 

[BouncerGuy]

Late Musharraf’s death penalty still intact: SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court observed on Tuesday that the decision of a special court, awarding the death sentence to the late former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf for high treason, was still intact and allowed his lawyer to contact the family to find out whether or not it wanted to pursue his appeal.

A four-member bench -- comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aminuddin Khan -- heard Musharraf’s appeal against his conviction in the high treason case.

The bench also observed that the Lahore High Court could not set aside the Musharraf’s sentence. It added that how the LHC could overrule the SC orders and asked senior advocate Hamid Khan to assist the court in the matter.

Before his death in February this year, Musharraf appealed against a special court’s decision of awarding him the death penalty on December 17, 2019 for imposing a state of emergency in the country and suspending the Constitution in November 2007.

Musharraf filed a petition against the verdict and on January 13, 2020, the LHC annulled the death sentence, calling the special court that held the trial as unconstitutional.

Later, both the matters were challenged in the SC.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Musharraf's lawyer, Salman Safdar, informed the court that he tried to contact his late client’s family but there were no instructions from it for filing an appeal on its behalf.

Justice Minallah told the lawyer that the decision would have an impact on the future, adding that Musharraf’s family would not receive his pension and other benefits.

The court then allowed the lawyer one more time to seek instructions from the family if it wanted to pursue the appeal or not.

The bench also took up an appeal against an earlier LHC decision pertaining to the status of a special court to adjudicate the high treason case. The additional attorney general (AAG) told the bench that the federal government did not support the LHC decision.

Justice Shah inquired whether or not the government was defending the LHC decision. He added that the LHC decision became ineffective after the special court verdict.

The AAG replied that he would not defend the LHC decision.

The CJP, while noting the remarks in the LHC judgment which read that the Supreme Court had not interpreted the Constitution correctly, inquired how a high court could write against the SC’s decision.

“Is there any prior precedent,” he asked. Even if this opinion of the high court was correct, the CJP further inquired, could it annul the decision of the Supreme Court.

He pointed out that there were more questions on the application and asked lawyer Hamid Khan to assist the court by looking into the matter.

Justice Minallah observed that even after the LHC verdict, the special court's decision remained intact even though Musharraf had expired.

During the proceedings, Hamid Khan's arguments were continuing on the petition against the LHC decision, when the court adjourned the hearing till Wednesday (today).
​

Late Musharraf’s death penalty still intact: SC | The Express Tribune

CJP asks senior lawyer to assist bench on how LHC wrote against top court’s orders

tribune.com.pk

 

[adi_62941]

I am laughing at people who criticize him for bowing down to the American's after 9/11. People do not realize or remember that time period where the American's were seething for revenge and wanted to bomb their adversary to stone age. Musharraf in his autobiography with his fellow generals had even war gamed a scenario where they said no to the US for their request for bases, supply routes and the result was the American's would have reduced Pakistan to rubbles within a week. Also people need to remember American's had a Plan B in India and the then Indian govt under BJP had expressed their willingness to the US with regards to providing bases.

Pakistan had no choice and it was not in Pakistan's interest to support the Taliban and Al Qaeda. These are the same people who have wrecked havoc in Pakistan. Under Musharraf Pakistan's economy was stable and he had briefly repaired the damage the decade of misrule the PPP and PML N administrations had inflicted upon Pakistan from 1988 to 1999.

He should have found a soft solution to Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry's judicial activism, as time has proven Iftikhar Chaudry was a PML N person and all of his interferences were inflicted against Musharraf and PPP but he turned a blind eye to the excesses by PML N. The then American administration of George W Bush also blundered by pressurizing Musharraf to compromise with PPP as they wanted Benazir as prime minister under Musharraf's supervision but that plan went out of the window when Zardari did what he did and Musharraf's plans flopped.

His biggest and most unpardonable mistake which he himself admitted was the NRO which gave us the subsequent 10 years of PPP and PML N where these two parties wrecked our economy and country like no tomorrow where even Bangladesh over took Pakistan. The real architects of the NRO were the two Chaudhry brothers who influenced Musharraf that Benazir and Zardari were getting acquitted in all of their cases and the cases weren't really progressing therefore it didn't really matter if he granted them an NRO or not.

Musharraf knew what the PPP and PML N were going to do once he was out of the picture and his final words in his resignation speech on August 18, 2008 were "Allah Hee Pakistan Kee Hifazat Kare"

I hope people remember him for his good time period from 1999 to 2006 because trust me it is much better than we saw under PPP, PML N and Bajwa

These military leaders never allowed political parties the full power and space to grow and perform. The same structure is now being repeated by Hafiz as he takes control of all matters in Pakistan openly, and the country is now effectively run by him.

In order to yield positive results, democracies require a period without any military interventions. However, in our country, we have been ruled by these military leaders directly or indirectly, and as a result, we are now at our weakest point compared to our neighbor, India. India struggled politically after 1947, but eventually, democracy bore fruit, and they are progressing steadily. After the Imran Khan experiment, Pakistan has regressed back to 2007, and we find ourselves needing to restart from the first level.

 

[FearlessRoar]

Though he was a military dictator, I am a fan of his hazir jawabi. May his soul rest in peace

 

[FearlessRoar]

The Supreme Court (SC) upheld on Wednesday the death sentence handed down to late former military dictator Pervez Musharraf by a special court in a high treason case.

A four-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Athar Minallah took up a set of appeals filed against the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) January 13, 2020 order, declaring unconstitutional the death sentence awarded to Musharraf on December 17, 2019.

In its short order, the SC reinstated the death sentence and dismissed the appeals. The court observed that the former general’s legal heirs could not be contacted despite efforts.

The court also annulled the decision declaring the special court, that handed down the sentence, as unconstitutional. According to the SC’s order, notices were given to Musharraf’s heirs regarding the court proceedings at both their local and international residential addresses. Advertisements were also released in Urdu and English newspapers.

The apex court observed in the judgment that there were two questions before the court: whether an appeal could be heard after the person has passed away, and if the death penalty is upheld, will Musharraf's legal heirs be entitled to his benefits.

The decision further stated that despite several attempts, Musharraf's heirs could not be contacted. “We have no option but to retain the death penalty,” the order stated.

Today's proceedings

During the proceedings, counsels Hamid Khan and Salman Safdar, the counsel for Musharraf appeared before the court.

At the commencement of the hearing, Hamid asserted that Musharraf's appeal against his sentence was a "criminal appeal," while the request before the SC aimed to overturn the LHC order, which was a "constitutional matter."

He urged the top court to consider both appeals separately. Chief Justice Isa then observed, "In this particular case, the Lahore High Court's jurisdiction and appeal are distinct issues."

The chief justice expressed the court's preference to hear Safdar's arguments first. Additional Attorney General Aamir Rehman, representing the state, opposed the appeal against the former president's sentence.

When the chief justice sought clarification on whether he was opposing or supporting Musharraf's appeal, the lawyer affirmed his opposition.

Safdar said in his arguments that there are no instructions from the former military ruler’s family. He said the family was aware of the case, further informing that they were contacted over 10 times since November, last year. “No instructions were given for, or against the case. Hence, I am not representing Pervez Musharraf's family,” he stated.

Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said that the SC had also issued notices to Musharraf directly, to which Safdar added that the SC had also notified him through a newspaper advertisement. “I can provide judicial assistance on two situations,” the counsel stated. At this, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah told Safdar that he could assist the court only on the legal situation.

Following this, the CJP called for taking a five-minute break, stating that the apex court wished to decide the case today.

As the hearing resumed, CJP Isa observed that the court cannot hear the ex-military dictator’s lawyer in the absence of his legal heirs. “Decisions should not be based on assumptions,” he observed, adding that the court did not want to close any door on the heirs. “How can the court resort to the use of 561-A?” he questioned.

Appreciating the action taken by the SC, Safdar informed that Musharraf's heirs do not reside in Pakistan.

The CJP asked Safdar what his reservations were regarding the Lahore High Court. To which the lawyer said that he does not even appear in the Supreme Court before the judge who tried Musharraf in LHC.

“I will definitely make some reports in your chamber about this,” Safdar said, only to be discouraged by the CJP, who said that “we do not call anyone in chamber”.

Justice Athar Minallah said that under Article 12, the court’s doors were open against everyone involved in imposing the emergency with Musharraf. To this, Safdar responded that ex-military ruler was not involved in the act alone.

“The then prime minister, law minister, parliament and SC judges were also involved in it with him,” he said, adding that the special court sentenced Musharraf without hearing him. “One man was singled out and punished for his actions against the whole country,” he argued.

The treason case

In 2013, then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had initiated a treason trial against Musharraf.

On December 17, 2019, a three-judge special court, comprising Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, Justice Nazar Akbar and Justice Shahid Karim sentenced to death the septuagenarian former military ruler under Article 6 of the Constitution of Pakistan.

The Article states that “any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or holds in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance the Constitution by use of force or show force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason.”

The charges against Musharraf- who was sentenced in absentia due to illness and being out of the country -, had stemmed from his imposition of a state of emergency in 2007 and subsequently for being guilty of high treason for abrogating the Constitution.

Later that month, in 2019, the LHC constituted a full bench, headed by Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, to hear a petition filed by Musharraf who was challenging the trial against him and the formation of a special court that awarded him a death sentence on the same day the plea was moved.

It should be noted that the former president, in his petition, had also requested the LHC to halt the special court proceedings in his absentia until he recuperates and appears before the court.

Later, on January 13, 2020, the LHC quashed the former president’s death sentence by declaring the formation of the bench of the special court as “unconstitutional”.

It should be noted that both the matters, the verdict of the special court and the LHC were challenged in the SC.

The SC had observed on November 22, 2023, that the decision of a special court, awarding the death sentence to the former military ruler for high treason, was still intact and had allowed his lawyer to contact the family to find out whether or not it wanted to pursue his appeal.

Musharraf passed away in February 2023.

Source: Express Tribune

SC upholds Musharraf's death penalty in treason case | The Express Tribune

SC annuls LHC’s 2020 decision declaring special court ‘unconstitutional’

tribune.com.pk

 

[FearlessRoar]

The Supreme Court, in its ruling, emphasized that even after Musharraf's death, the sentence remains in effect, and his heirs will not be entitled to his rights. Horrible, This only happens in Pakistan.

 

[Bhaijaan]

Musharraf the Military chief came in the way of Bharat and Pakistan improving their ties when Respected Vajpayee ji & Nawaz Shareef locked each other in the embrace of dosti.

But Musharraf the Military Dictator could have facilitated the friendship restoration process.

Congress govt lost that opportunity. If it was PM Modi ji back then he would have been closed that deal with Murhoom Mushy bhai.

 

[FearlessRoar]

'Enemy Property' Owned by Musharraf's Family Auctioned Off in UP's Baghpat for Big Amount​

A property in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat, once owned by relatives of former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, has been sold at an auction on Thursday, September 5. The government auctioned the property for Rs 1.38 crore through an online bidding process. The land, totaling 13 bighas, has been purchased by three local farmers from Baghpat.

The property, which was registered under the names of Musharraf’s relatives, will now be transferred to the new owners, effectively removing Musharraf’s family name from the land records in Baghpat. Nuru Mian, a resident of Kotana village in Baghpat’s Baraut tehsil, who is reportedly related to Musharraf, had the property sold. Nuru, who left for Pakistan in 1965, had approximately 13 bighas of land in Kotana, declared “enemy property” by the government in 2010.

The property, which consists of eight plots or Khasra numbers, was auctioned online. The e-auction, managed by the Enemy Property Custodian Office, took place from 11 am to 9 pm on Thursday.

With this sale, the land’s historical ties to Musharraf’s family will be officially severed. The property will now be transferred to the new owners, with approximately 4 bighas purchased by local resident Pankaj Kumar. Pervez Musharraf’s family, originally from Baghpat, relocated to Delhi in 1943 and subsequently moved to Pakistan in 1947.

Assets left behind by people who took citizenship of Pakistan and China — mostly between 1947 and 1962 — are known as enemy property. The government has vested these properties in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India, an office instituted under the central government.

The Enemy Property Act was enacted in 1968, three years after the India-Pakistan War of 1965, to regulate such properties and list the custodian’s powers. As of April this year, there were a total of 12,611 establishments called ‘enemy property’, roughly estimated to be worth over Rs 1 lakh crore, in the country.

'Enemy Property' Owned by Musharraf's Family Auctioned Off in UP's Baghpat for Big Amount - News18

The property, which consists of eight plots or Khasra numbers, was auctioned online. The e-auction, managed by the Enemy Property Custodian Office, took place from 11 am to 9 pm on Thursday.

www.news18.com