Pakistan: SC upholds Musharraf’s death penalty—a year after he died!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Pakistan doesn’t let even its dead leaders rest in peace!
Nearly a year after he died of a disease, Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld former President General Pervez Musharraf’s death penalty in a treason case, the media reported.
The ruling came when the Prime Minister he toppled to grab power—Nawaz Sharif—is seen as returning as the premier next month after parliamentary elections. Later, when he discovered a common enemy in Imran Khan, Musharraf wanted to patch up with Nawaz Sharif.
The India-born military dictator behind the Kargil War in 1999 and Pakistan’s last military ruler died on February 5, 2023, in Dubai after a prolonged illness.
The 79-year-old former Pakistani President was undergoing treatment for amyloidosis in Dubai. He was living in the UAE since 2016 in self-exile to avoid criminal charges back home.
A four-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Aminuddin Khan, and Justice Athar Minallah, conducted the hearing.
On December 17, 2019, a special court handed out the death penalty to the former dictator after a case of high treason was filed against him during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party’s tenure for his “unconstitutional” decision to impose an emergency in November 2007.
The top court announced the reserved verdict on an appeal filed by Musharraf himself against the death sentence which was handed to him and declared ineffective for non-compliance.
