On Wednesday, Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of the late former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, as issued by a special court in 2019 in the high treason case. Musharraf, known for his role in the Kargil War in 1999 and as Pakistan's last military ruler, passed away on February 5 in Dubai due to a prolonged illness at the age of 79. The former president had been receiving treatment for amyloidosis in Dubai and had been residing in the UAE since 2016 in self-exile to evade criminal charges in Pakistan.
A four-member bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and including Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Aminuddin Khan, and Justice Athar Minallah, conducted the hearing. The death sentence had been imposed on Musharraf by a special court on December 17, 2019, during the tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party. The case was filed against him for his "unconstitutional" decision to impose an emergency in November 2007.
The apex court announced its reserved verdict on an appeal filed by the former ruler against the death sentence. The verdict declared the sentence ineffective due to non-compliance. Despite Musharraf's passing, the decision carries significance in the legal context of the high treason case.
(With Agency Inputs)
