A special court set up to try Pakistan’s former ruler Pervez Musharraf for treason adjourned Tuesday to consider a medical report on his heart complaint.
The 70-year-old was rushed to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) in Rawalpindi, which borders Islamabad, on his way to the tribunal last week.
The court adjourned the hearing until Wednesday to allow time to assess the doctors’ report and said defence and prosecution teams would receive copies.
Musharraf’s camp says the treason allegations, which relate to his imposition of emergency rule in November 2007, are politically motivated and his lawyers have challenged the authority of the tribunal.
Judge Faisal Arab, who heads the three-member bench, told the court Tuesday: “We will give an opportunity to both sides to examine (the report) and then we will decide accordingly.” Ahmad Raza Kasuri, a lawyer for Musharraf, told reporters that owing to the complexity of the medical issues the matter could only be debated once both sides had been given time to assess the report.
The report, a copy of which was seen by AFP, says the former general is suffering triple-vessel coronary artery disease and notes that his father died of the same condition.
Further tests are needed to decide whether Musharraf needs a heart bypass operation, said the report signed by AFIC executive director Major General S.M. Imran Majeed.
Musharraf’s sudden health scare was met with scepticism by some observers, and media speculation that his departure as part of a face-saving deal to avert a civil-military clash could be imminent. Rumours have circulated for months that a backroom deal would be struck to whisk him overseas, possibly to Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, to avoid a destabilising clash between the government, which brought the charges, and the powerful armed forces.
But the former commando has previously insisted he wants to stay and fight the charges. Asked whether there was any truth in speculation about Saudi Arabia and Pakistan negotiating Musharraf’s departure, Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said: “Absolutely not.” The minister, currently on a visit to Pakistan, said Riyadh had a principle of “non-interference in the internal affairs of any country and especially a friendly country”. Aside from the treason allegations, Musharraf also faces trial over the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the death of a rebel leader, a deadly raid on a radical mosque and the detention of judges. Police officers be punished on acquittal of accused in criminal cases: SC New Delhi: Every acquittal in a criminal case should be understood as a failure of the justice delivery system and in serving the cause of justice, the Supreme Court today said directing the governments to punish investigating officers in such cases.
A bench of justices C K Prasad and J S Khehar expressed concern over the growing number of acquittals due to poor investigation and directed all state governments to put in place a mechanism within six months for proper training of its officers to ensure the accused is punished and at the same time innocent persons are not framed in criminal cases.
“Every acquittal should be understood as a failure of the justice delivery system, in serving the cause of justice. Likewise, every acquittal should ordinarily lead to the inference that an innocent person was wrongfully prosecuted.
“It is, therefore, essential that every state should put in place a procedural mechanism which would ensure that the cause of justice is served, which would simultaneously ensure the safeguarding of interest of those who are innocent,” it said.
The bench directed the Home Department of every state to examine all orders of acquittal and to record reasons for the failure of each prosecution case for finding out mistakes committed during investigation and prosecution. “On the culmination of a criminal case in acquittal, the concerned investigating/prosecuting official(s) responsible for such acquittal must necessarily be identified. A finding needs to be recorded in each case whether the lapse was innocent or blameworthy.
Each erring officer must suffer the consequences of his lapse, by appropriate departmental action, whenever called for,” the bench said.
AFP