Court Martial Lawyer – Pakistan judge calms fears of imminent Musharraf trial
By Sajjad Tarakzai (AFP)
ISLAMABAD — Pakistani lawyers called Thursday for Pervez Musharraf to face trial despite the country’s top judge appearing to rule out initiating a case of treason against the former military ruler.
The Supreme Court, headed by recently reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, is listening to an investigation into Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule that saw dozens of judges sacked two years ago.
The court said notice had been issued for Musharraf to appear in person or through a lawyer, but the ex-president ignored the summons — attending neither in person nor through counsel at sessions on Wednesday and Thursday.
Chaudhry was reinstated in March by Musharraf’s successor and rival President Asif Ali Zardari, who was forced to execute an embarrassing climbdown and bow to public opinion and restore the judges after weeks of chaos.
“He (Musharraf) suspended the constitution and the judiciary. All steps he took were to keep himself in power,” senior lawyer Hamid Khan told the court.
“All his actions should be declared null and void, and he should be declared a usurper,” he said.
Fellow senior lawyer Akram Sheikh asked the court to refer its investigation of general Musharraf to Pakistan’s powerful army for court martial.
“Musharraf did not appear in court. Therefore until new proceedings start against him, Musharraf’s case should be referred to the army. He should be tried under army law,” he said, telling AFP that would mean a court martial.
“They are demanding Musharraf’s trial under article six of the constitution, which relates to ‘abrogation or subversion’ of the constitution and calls for him to face trial for ‘high treason’,” senior lawyer Khawaja Haris told AFP.
But the chief justice, who is yet to conclude the probe into the declaration of emergency rule, backed away from pursuing Musharraf in the courts.
“We should draw a line between what he has done as army chief and what he has done as president,” Chaudhry told the court.
“We have to proceed very carefully… We are not here to destroy anything. We are here to stabilise everything,” he said.
Musharraf was replaced last year as Pakistan’s president by Asif Ali Zardari, whose party won general elections and who reinstated Chaudhry and his fellow judges in March following a protracted political crisis.
Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and lawyers organised a march on the capital Islamabad, demanding that Zardari reinstate Chaudhry during mass protests last March that risked further destabilising the nuclear-armed country.
Under Western pressure Zardari conceded to defuse the standoff with Sharif, who had urged the masses to rise up against the government.
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, San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fort Bragg, Fort Jackson, Fort Stewart, Fort Gordon, Italy, Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Yokota, and throughout the United States. military-defense-lawyer-recentcases.htm.
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