ISLAMABAD: The last witness presented by the prosecution in the judges’ detention case against former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf on Monday said that imposing emergency in the country in 2007 was the former president’s personal decision.
The ATC on Monday resumed hearing of the high-profile case. Prosecution witness, Colonel (r) Inamur Rahim, recorded his statement. Rahim, who served as a lieutenant colonel during time when emergency was imposed, said Musharraf “misused his uniform in imposing emergency in the country on November 3, 2007, and hence caused damage to the credibility of the armed forces”. Musharraf has been facing terrorism charges in the case, based on a first information report (FIR) registered against him on August 11, 2009, by the Secretariat Police for detaining over 60 judges. The former military ruler was indicted in the case in June 2013. According to the charge sheet, the former president had imposed a state of emergency and detained the judges. The witness, in his statement before the court, said the then corps commanders had not agreed to detain judges, adding that lawyers and former servicemen also protested against the imposition of emergency in the country. Rahim further said the lawyers, who were active in the movement for the restoration of judiciary, were arrested and then sent to prison. After Rahim recorded his statement, prosecutor Amir Nadeem told the court that all testimonies by the witnesses had been completed.
However, Musharraf’s counsel, Akther Shah, requested the court to grant him more time for arguments in the case. The ATC accepted the request and adjourned the hearing of the case until October 5. Earlier in 2014, the head of the FIA probe team Khalid Qureshi had informed the special court that Musharraf imposed the emergency as chief of army staff (COAS). Qureshi had appeared in the court
as a prosecution witness in the case and had further said that Musharraf had issued the PCO affidavit
as the president.
Published in Daily Times, September 26th 2017.
