The present decision of PML-N Govt. to try Gen. (retd) Musharraf under Article 6 for being a traitor needs some circumspection which means caution and taking everything into account. This ought to include the element of extenuating circumstance surrounding a crime or action that may dilute the seriousness of the crime. The famous case of Hazrat Hatib bin Baltaa who passed secret information of impending attack on Mecca by the Muslim army, which was an act of spying and treason, entailing death sentence for the culprit, but the Holy Prophet (PBUH) asked Hazarat Baltaa that why had he committed this act of spying for Qureish? Hazarat Baltaa replied that he was an outsider and was afraid of revenge against his family at the hands of Kuffar in Mecca. As such he was forgiven by the Holy Prophet (PBUH). This incidence shows that the military takeover by the army may not be a simple act. The circumstances involved dismissal of a previous COAS. Three months before his time. Even Gen. (redt) Musharraf was made COAS over the head of his seniors, and he was being dismissed in the air, while travelling from Sri Lanka back to Pakistan, by a stealthy act by the Prime Minister as also diverting the plane away from Karachi to arrest Gen. (retd) Musharraf on landing. As such this is not a cut and dried case of being a traitor, as the circumstances may be mitigating the crime in this case.DR M. YAQOOB BHATTI, Lahore, June 26.