Court Martial Lawyer – Larger bench refers ‘coup plotters’ petitions to CJP

Court Martial Lawyer – Larger bench refers ‘coup plotters’ petitions to CJP

* Matter referred to CJP after Justice Khokhar expresses inability to sit on bench as he had been representing one of the petitioners

By Masood Rehman

ISLAMABAD: A larger bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday referred to the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) a set of petitions that urged the court to review its earlier order of dismissing appeals filed by Major Gen (r) Zaheerul Islam Abbasi and others against convictions awarded by a Field General Court Martial (FGCM) for plotting against the 1995 government of slain PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.

The bench consisted of Justice Sardar Muhammad, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Faqir Khokhar, Justice Ejaz Yousaf and Justice Sheikh Hakim Ali. As the bench took up the pleas, Justice Khokhar pointed out that he was unable to hear the case, as he had been counselling one of the petitioners. The bench referred the matter to CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to form another bench to hear the pleas.

Abbasi, his wife Shahida, Brig (r) Mustansir Billah and Colonel (r) Inayatullah Khan had moved the review petitions. Abbasi, Mustansir, two colonels and 38 other army officers were arrested on Sept 26, 1995, on charges of plotting to storm a corps commanders’ meeting to be held on September 30, 1995, at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. They had also plotted to proclaim khilafat with Abbasi as amirul momineen after assassinating then prime minister Benazir Bhutto and then army chief General Abdul Waheed Kakar.

Awarded: Details of the conspiracy were revealed after Qari Saifullah Akhtar, a co-conspirator became an approver. On his evidence, the FGCM awarded a seven-year sentence to Abbasi and a 14-year jail term to Mustansir. Qari Akhtar was not convicted as part of a deal with the government. He was later reported to have slipped to Kabul where he ran a training camp.

After 9/11, the US reportedly launched an airstrike on the camp in which most of the “trained men” were killed, but Akhtar managed to escape unharmed. Akhtar was arrested in the United Arab Emirates in 2004 and handed over to the Pakistan government.

Benazir had mentioned Akhtar’s name in her last book, “Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West”, accusing him of being involved in suicide bombings to assassinate her at the PPP rally on October 18, 2007, in Karachi.

Michael Waddington is a court martial lawyer – court martial attorney that defends military personnel worldwide as well as deployed civilian contractors subject to the UCMJ. He defends Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, Coast Guard, and civilian contractor court martial cases. He has successfully defended military personnel as a court martial lawyer Army Navy Marine & Air Force court martials in Germany, England, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States. military-defense-lawyer-recentcases.htm.