Special Court rejects Musharraf plea, seeking documents on 2007 emergency

ISLAMABAD: The special court conducting the treason trial of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf dismissed his plea seeking documents pertaining to the November 2007 emergency.

Special court registrar Abdul Ghani Soomro read out the detailed verdict which was earlier been reserved.

Rejecting the plea, the court ruled that though it was right of the accused to seek evidence, Musharraf’s plea was premature.

The court said that the accused himself could get the verified copies of the documents from the departments concerned. The court will consider the accused application during the course of hearing if he needed evidence.

The special court said the documents were public property.

ARY, Ursus Tractors cases: Acquittal plea decision deferred till June 24

ISLAMABAD: The decision on the plea for Asif Ali Zardari’s acquittal in ARY and Ursus Tractors references has been deferred until June 24, as the accountability court judge was on leave today (Wednesday), Geo News reported.

Meanwhile, Asif Ali Zardari has been summoned for indictment in Cotecna reference.

Sources said that the decision on Asif Ali Zardari’s petitions seeking acquittal in ARY and Ursus Tractors references could not be announced today and deferred until June 24 due to Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Basher being on leave.

The court has also summoned Asif Ali Zardari in Cotecna reference for indictment on June 24, while the Accountability Court has summoned the witnesses in SGS reference also on June 24.

It may be recalled that Asif Ali Zardari was acquitted in Polo Ground reference on previous hearing.

Plea to work together for supremacy of Constitution

KARACHI: Kamran Khan, the host of Geo News programme, ‘Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath’, on Monday said that Geo has for the first time offered its apology regarding its coverage on April 19 after the murderous attack on Hamid Mir. Geo said to the Army, the ISI and Gen Zaheer-ul-Islam that the channel offers its apologies on the said coverage.

Kamran Khan said that the apology, which had been published on the front pages of Jang and The News, was also aired on the 9.00pm news bulletin on Geo on Monday.The apology also refers to the background of the whole issue, and it also says that the need of the hour is to move forward together and to join hands for the supremacy of the Constitution in the country.

Geo management says that after the process of sincere self-accountability, editorial debates and the public opinion, we have arrived at the conclusion that our transmission on April 19 after the murderous attack on Hamid Mir had not only gone too far but it was also very emotional. Although the ISPR version was repeatedly telecast on April 19, yet we sincerely offer our apologies on the pain our transmission caused to the ISI as an institution, its Director-General Lieutenant-General Zaheer-ul-Islam, his family, the people affiliated to the armed forces and our viewers.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court on Monday issued several orders. In the first order, the meeting that had been summoned by Pemra and which was supposed to take up the Geo case was suspended. The court also suspended the show-cause notices issued by Pemra to its private members. In yet another order, the IHC suspended the notification of the appointment of Kamaluddin Tipu who the government had appointed in Pemra.

Kamran Khan said that these were the three important developments which cannot be said to be in favour of Geo.On the other hand, hearing into Geo applications was held at the Supreme Court where an extraordinary situation has developed in the form of a campaign against a Supreme Court judge, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja. Not only the campaign was seen on a television channel, but banners were also hoisted against him in Islamabad.

During the Supreme Court proceedings on Monday, Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja asked the Islamabad administration as well as the Intelligence Bureau to trace those who had hoisted those banners and to ensure that no such incident happens again. He also said that Pemra is bound by a previous order by the Supreme Court issued in 2010 in which it had been said that Pemra was bound to see that Geo channels must be telecast in the cable operation right at the spots which had been reserved for it. Pemra must act against the cable operators if they are found to have violated the arrangement.

Senior journalist Arif Nizami, while speaking on the programme, said that the matter now should come to an end after Geo’s apology. He said that the future of the cause of the freedom of the press is at stake.

Arif Nizami said that he had gone through the apology offered by Geo, and as a professional journalist he would like to say that it is not enough and it has come too late.Arif Nizami said that the wordings used in the apology should have been simpler. He said that things have deteriorated so much that the apology Geo has offered will not be considered as an unconditional apology.

He said that the government is apparently saying that it is supporting Geo and it is supporting freedom of expression, but the matter is not so straightforward as far as Pemra is concerned.

In a different segment of the programme, Kamran Khan said that today has been a historic day: the Indian prime minister was taking oath at a ceremony where Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also in attendance. The two prime ministers shook hands today, and tomorrow they will meet for an hour which is a good beginning. The world is watching the development with interest since Narendra Modi had been a very harsh critic of Pakistan.

Kamran Khan said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in an interview to an Indian television channel has said that he wants to resume the talks’ process with India from where the process had collapsed in 1999.

In a yet different segment of the programme, Kamran Khan, while commenting on the MQM rally in Karachi, said that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement exhibited its political might, and MQM activists from all over Sindh converged on the venue of the rally in Karachi and expressed solidarity with their leader, Altaf Hussain.

Kamran Khan said that the purpose of the rally was to convey a message to British Prime Minister David Cameron. There were several questions addressed to the British government and its prime minister. The questions referred to the matters which are being investigated by the Scotland Yard concerning the MQM leadership in Britain.

Kamran Khan said that the main speech of the rally was delivered not by Altaf Hussain but by Farooq Sattar.A very important question concerned the disruption that some of the actions of the British government and that of its police have been causing to the education of Altaf Hussain’s daughter, Afza Altaf.

Kamran Khan said that it has been weeks since the ceasefire between the government and the Taliban expired and there have been terrorist incidents since the ceasefire expired. He said that six terrorist incidents took place in the last three days in which 25 people embraced martyrdom. There is a serious threat of terrorism incidents, and the government is working hard to deal with the eventuality. The provinces have been asked to do their own contingency planning. The planning is also being conducted in Islamabad for which the Army and the police will coordinate their efforts. The corps commander of Rawalpindi has recently presided a meeting on the security of Rawalpindi-Islamabad which was also attended by the IG of Islamabad and other high police officials. A comprehensive plan has been devised. From Islamabad, three companies of the 111 Brigade have been told to be ready to assist the civil administration.

Commenting on the international affairs, Kamran Khan said that the West wants to improve its ties with Iran while Pakistan is also trying to improve its relations with Iran.Besides, the Arab countries in the region are also aspiring to improve their relations with Iran.

Treason case: Court reserves verdict on FIA report plea until May 8

ISLAMABAD: The Special Court, hearing high treason case against former President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, reserved its verdict over the Defence Counsel's demand for provision of inquiry report of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) until May 8, Geo News reported.

The Special Court headed by Justice Faisal Arab comprising Justice Tahira Safdar and Justice Yawar Ali resumed hearing of the case.

During the course of proceedings, counsel for Pervez Musharraf, Barrister Farogh Nasim withdrew the two petitions relating to section 6-A of the Special Court Act-1976. He submitted that section 6-A of Special Court Act-1976 has expired and his petitions in this regard may kindly be returned and added he would be presenting his reservations verbally.

At his moment, prosecutor Akram Sheikh on objection said that the defence counsel on the one hand was taking back the petitions and on the other continuing his arguments.

Barrister Farogh Nasim prayed to the court not to further proceed in the case until the ruling on the handing over to him a copy of the FIA report announced. He said he would finalize his future strategy in the light of the court’s decision and hastily added that it should not be perceived that the trial proceeding being delayed because of him. The court fixing the date for the announcement of ruling over FIA report plea adjourn the hearing, he submitted.

Later, the court approved the withdrawal of petitions that stated the law under which the accused indicted was superseded by 1981 Ordinance.

The court adjourned further hearing of the case until May 8.

Special court reserves judgment on Musharraf’s plea seeking FIA inquiry report

 

ISLAMABAD: The Special Court hearing the high treason case on Friday reserved the decision on the accused Pervez Musharraf’s plea seeking copies of the inquiry and investigation report of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) regarding the action taken on November 3, 2007.
A three-member Special Court, headed by Justice Faisal Arab and comprising Justice Tahira Safdar and Justice Yawar Ali, resumed hearing in the high treason case against former military dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharaf for imposing the emergency rule in the country on November 3, 2007.

Continuing his arguments in rebuttal to the prosecution, Barrister Farogh Naseem, counsel for Pervez Musharraf, questioned as to whether the court and prosecution did not want that the instant trial should be conducted in a fair manner, adding that in order to ensure a fair trial, all the material including inquiry and investigation report of the Federal Investigation Agency had to be provided to the accused so that he could plead his case effectively.

The learned counsel contended that if all this material was not provided to the accused, then the trial could be restarted. He further submitted that the investigation report of FIA does not fall in the ambit of the Official Secrets Act that could be concealed from the defence.

At this, Dr Tariq Hassan from the prosecution side told the court that the investigation report of FIA does fall in the ambit of the Official Secrets Act and that was why it was being kept secret.

Justice Faisal Arab, however, observed that if the investigation report was secret, it would not have been released to the media.Farogh Naseem further contended that he was not asking the investigation report of FIA only but also seeking the whole record pertaining to the instant case, adding that without these, there would not be a fair trial.

He requested the court to issue directives for providing all the record pertaining to the case to the accused so that he could plead the case in an effective manner.Meanwhile, the court reserved the decision on the application and adjourned the hearing till April 28. The court ruled that it would take up other two applications, filed by the accused including seeking the trial of other persons under Article 6 of the Constitution who advised the accused to impose the emergency rule on November 3, 2007.

U.K. court rejects CBI plea for Ravi Shankaran’s extradition

In a major setback to the CBI, the case against Ravi Shankaran, key accused in the naval ‘war room leak’ case, was rejected by the England and Wales High Court on Tuesday.

In addition, the judges, Lord Brian Leveson and Mr. Justice Blake, ordered the CBI to pay Shankaran Rs. 1 crore in legal costs. They said there was no prima facie case against him.

Shankaran had appealed to the High Court after an extradition order passed by Home Secretary Theresa May in May 2013. The order came after the decisions of District Judge Nicholas Evans at the Westminster Magistrates Court in December 2011 and again in March 2013.

Tuesday’s High Court order overrules both Judge Evans’ ruling and the extradition order.

The judges re-examined the evidence to establish if a prima facie case existed for extradition.

Concluding his ruling, Justice Lord Leveson said: “For the sake of completeness and in deference to the comprehensive arguments that have been advanced on this appeal, each of the grounds has been considered. In the event, I would allow this appeal on the sole ground that the District Judge failed properly to re-evaluate the admissibility of the third (and only operative) hearsay statement attributed to Kushwaha against the further evidence advanced on behalf of the appellant. Performing that exercise with due regard to the provisions of s. 84 of the Extradition Act 2003, I have little doubt that it should not have been admitted as the only evidence linking the Vic Branson email to the appellant. Without that link, the prima facie case that must be established collapses.”

The judges also remarked on the “sluggish pace” at which the proceedings had moved in India. “It took around six years [from initial arrest in April 2006 until an appellate decision of the Indian courts dated 11 May 2012] for the other Indian defendants to secure bail. As at that date, the documentary basis of the case… had still not been disclosed,” the ruling states.

Govt rejects Musharraf’s ECL plea

ISLAMABAD: The Interior Ministry has rejected Pervez Musharraf’s application seeking removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

The former military ruler had filed the application with the interior ministry after the Special Court said the government had the authority to allow him to travel abroad.

Mushararf’s spokesman, Rashid Qureshi claimed that the letter from the Initerior Ministry has not been received.

Musharraf had filed petitions praying the court to allow him to travel abroad for medical treatment and to visit his ailing mother.

Earlier on Wednesday, Railways Minister and PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique advised Musharraf to ‘show courage, be a man and shun the acting.’