ISLAMABAD - The Special Court Wednesday reserved judgment on the appointment of Akram Sheikh as prosecutor in the former President Pervez Musharraf high treason case.
Akram Sheikh argued before a three-judge Special Court, established under the Criminal Law Amendment (Special Court) Act 1976 that neither he was loyal to the incumbent Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nor against the accused Pervez Musharaf, therefore, the allegations of bias were totally baseless. Whatever he had uttered in TV programmes regarding the case was his personal opinion as a lawyer, he added.
“Why I am being labeled as bias when the trial has not yet commenced and the accused has not yet appeared before the court for indictment,” he contended. He requested the court to go through all the CDs and transcripts of the TV programmes and if it found anything bias then it can decide better about his appointment as prosecutor in the case.
Akram Sheikh submitted that the Ministry of Law had issued a notification regarding his appointment as prosecutor, adding the notification covers all the conditions mentioned in Rules of Business. “There is no deviation from procedure as pointed out or alleged by the defence counsel,” he further said.
The learned counsel argued that the complaint was filed against Musharraf after the FIA completed its investigation hence the prosecution had no role in filing of a complaint.
He said defence counsel Anwar Mansoor himself had given him a certificate in his summary to the court wherein, he had stated that he was not fighting against Pervez Musharraf but against his (Musharraf) acts, took place on 3rd November 2007.
Pervez Musharaf lead counsel Anwar Mansoor in his rebuttal cited a judgment of the Supreme Court 2013 wherein it was ruled that the job of the prosecutor could not be tainted with bias and an element of bias in any corner of his mind can vitiate the whole proceedings.
He contended that the prosecutor must be fair not only to the court and investigation agency but also to the accused as well. He said Akram Sheikh had said that Pervez Musharaf’s case was not started on the wishes of the Prime Minister.
“How does he know when he is a prosecutor because he has close contacts with the Prime Minister,” the defence counsel said, adding the learned prosecutor is motivating the public as to what is going to take place. Can a motivated person be called a prosecutor, Mansoor questioned.
He also contended that the notification of his appointment as prosecutor was not issued legally saying that as per law, the concerned minister can appoint a prosecutor but here the Secretary Law, being the subordinate officer, issued the notification. “The Prime Minister authority cannot be trickled down to the secretary level,” he argued.
The hearing was adjourned till today when Anwar Mansoor will commence his arguments on other two applications.