Federal Ministry of Law on Saturday said that the reference against Justice Waqar Seth has not been sent to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) as yet whereas research and investigation related to the reference is underway.
A spokesperson for the ministry said that the reference filed earlier in the day was by an independent individual or firm who is/are unrelated to the government of Pakistan.
“The Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP), Anwar Mansoor Khan, who had left on a short trip to Turkey has returned to the country today and would spearhead the process of skimming through data and resources before the government files a reference against Justice Waqar Seth,” the spokesperson added.
The special court convicted Musharraf of high treason and sentenced him to death on Tuesday in an unprecedented trial delayed by the absence of the septuagenarian former military ruler, who has been out of the country since 2016.
“The government will not allow any situation, which creates instability in the country or a clash between institutions, to arise,” said the prime minister while addressing a meeting of the Media Strategy Committee on Thursday.
It was decided in the meeting that the government would file a reference in the SJC against Special Court President Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth.
The legal team informed the meeting that the sentence – hanging him (Musharraf) on D-Chowk – penned by Justice Seth crossed all legal boundaries.
The legal team termed “unconstitutional”, “illegal” and “inhumane” the detailed verdict of the special court.
Justice Seth has directed for the “corpse” of the former president to be “dragged to D-Chowk” and “hanged for 3 days” in paragraph 66 of the verdict.
Law Minister Farogh Naseem while addressing a press conference here alongside PM’s Special Assistant on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan and PM’s aide on accountability, Shahzad Akbar earlier in the week had said, “There is no room in Article 6 of the Constitution; in the High Treason Act, 1973; in the Criminal Amendment Act of the special court, 1976; for a judge to have the authority to present such an observation”.
“With due respect, this is an unprecedented, despicable and completely wrong observation by the judge.”
The law minister then spoke of Article 209 under which the attorney general had announced his intention for a trial against the judge.
He said that Article 209 comes into effect when there is misconduct due to “incompetence” or when there is “questionable mental capacity”.
“Our request is, because he has proven himself to be mentally unfit and incompetent, he must immediately be prevented from working. We request the Supreme Court judges to restrain him from any administrative or judicial work,” said the law minister.
