Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani said Wednesday that former President Pervez Musharraf will be tried if the parliament passes an unanimous resolution.
Addressing the National Assembly, the prime minister said that the government is under the process of accountability and that if the parliament decides anything regarding action against Musharraf, the government will implement it.
The Attorney General for Pakistan Sardar Latif Khan Khosa said on Monday that the parliament could approve the trial of Musharraf by a simple majority resolution for his Nov. 3, 2007 acts.
The attorney general said that if a resolution for conducting trial of the former president was moved in the parliament and after its approval, the government was bound to act upon the decision of the Parliament which was the supreme law-making body.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari issued a notification late Sunday night to halt 76 judges appointed by Musharraf from functioning. The order came after Pakistan's Supreme Court declared Friday the emergency rule imposed by Musharraf in 2007 as unconstitutional. All the sacked judges had been appointed during the emergency.
On Nov. 3, 2007, Musharraf issued a proclamation of emergency, suspended the Constitution and promulgated a Provisional Constitution Order (PCO). Dozens of judges declined to take oath under the PCO and were sacked. The emergency rule was withdrawn on Dec. 15, 2007.
Pakistan's Supreme Court declared Friday that the emergency rule imposed by Musharraf in 2007 as "unconstitutional." The verdict said that sacking of the judges was illegal and unconstitutional. The Supreme Court termed the steps taken on Nov. 3, 2007 as "null and void."
Barrister Ali Saif, legal aide for Musharraf, said that the former president will fight legal battle if he was charged at courts.
The Supreme Court observed on Thursday that though the apex court could rule on the constitutionality of the actions of Musharraf, it could not initiate treason proceedings against him on its own.
The bench observed that the power to try the former president for treason and other crimes lay with parliament. But legal experts say that Musharraf can now be tried on treason charges as his actions were declared as unconstitutional.
(Xinhua News Agency August 6, 2009)
