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Sunday, October 27, 2013
Collection of evidences against MusharrafDefence Ministry not cooperating, FIA tells Nisar
By Hasnaat Malik
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) inquiry committee has informed Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan that the Defence Ministry is not cooperating with it for collection of evidences against former military dictator Pervez Musharraf in the treason case.
A four-member FIA committee comprising Khalid Qureshi, Azam Khan, Hussain Asghar and Maqsoodul Hassan is collecting evidences against Musharraf in the treason case since July 3. One member of the FIA team revealed to Daily Times that they had approached Defence Secretary Lt Gen (r) Asif Yasin Malik several times to get details of the meeting of Core Commanders of Pakistan Army in which November 3, 2007 emergency was approved.
He said that despite sending different reminders, the defence secretary did not provide any detail related to that meeting. The FIA official said that they had been intimating the Interior Ministry every week about the non-cooperation of the Defence Ministry but Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan did not take any action in this regard. Earlier, the interior minister had declared that he would personally monitor the progress of investigations into six high profile cases, including the one against Musharraf.
The sources stated that the process regarding the collection of evidences against Musharraf was delayed due to the non-cooperation of the Defence Ministry, but still it was expected that the FIA committee would complete the investigation by the end of next month. They also said that details of the Core Commanders meeting was necessary to place it as evidence against Musharraf as well as all the top government figures who closely worked with him at the time of the imposition of the state of emergency and promulgation of the Provisional Constitutional Order in November 2007.
It is noteworthy that presently Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is in charge of the Defence Ministry. An application was moved in the Supreme Court on October 21, requesting it to order the federal government to apprise it regarding the progress of the investigation in treason case against Musharraf. Petitioner Abdul Hakeem Khan Kundi, who sought initiation of treason case against the former dictator under Article 6 of the constitution, had moved a miscellaneous application through his counsel Ikram Chaudhry in this case.
It has also been reported that all the evidences against Musharraf will be reviewed by the law secretary and attorney general of Pakistan to evaluate whether or not the high treason case, the first of its kind in Pakistan since Article 6 was inserted in the 1973 Constitution, would stand the scrutiny of the court of law. On June 24, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced in the National Assembly that his government would put Musharraf on trial for treason and said the former dictator committed treason by abrogating the constitution in 2007. Simultaneously, the attorney general told the Supreme Court that the government was committed to initiating high treason case against Musharraf and his abettors.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk