Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf Sentenced to Death

New Delhi, December 17, 2019:

Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has been sentenced to death in a "high treason case" by a special court in Pakistan, on Tuesday.

A three-member bench led by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth found him guilty of high treason for suspending the Constitution and imposing emergency rule in 2007. Two out of the three judges were in favour of capital punishment.

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Army Chief-tuned dictator Pervez Musharraf was booked in the treason case in December 2013. He was accused of treason on March 31, 2014, and the prosecution had tabled the entire evidence before the special court in September of the same year.

Musharraf led the Pakistan Army during the Kargil war and had a fallout with the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after he tried to remove him from office, which culminated in a military coup in 1999.

Gen Musharraf is the first military ruler to ever stand trial in Pakistan for overruling the constitution. In November 2007, Gen Musharraf suspended the constitution and imposed emergency rule, sparking off mass protests. He resigned in 2008 to avoid the threat of impeachment.

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The trial against the former president was initiated by Nawaz Sharif, after he was elected prime minister in 2013 and in March 2014, the former general was charged with high treason. Gen Musharraf travelled to Dubai in 2016, after a travel ban was lifted and he has refused to appear before the court, despite multiple orders.

However, the special court today pronounced the long-pending case against the Pakistan president today.

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