LAHORE: Senior church leaders on Sunday criticised the special court’s verdict against General (r) Pervez Musharraf, saying branding a former army chief and president of the country a ‘traitor’ and handing him the death sentence had shocked Pakistani Christians.
Addressing a press conference, National Council of Churches in Pakistan President Bishop Dr Azad Marshall, Catholic Archbishop of Lahore Sebastian Shaw, Punjab Minister for Human Rights Ejaz Alam Augustine and former Anglican Bishop of Lahore Alexander Malik condemned the detailed judgement in the treason case, especially the choice of words, used for the former president and the institution of the army.
Commenting on the detailed verdict, Bishop Azad said that he was shocked to read paragraph 66 of the judgement penned by the president of the Special court, Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth.
The excerpt of the verdict directs law enforcement agencies to hang Gen Musharraf’s corpse in Islamabad’s D-Chowk for 3 days if he passes away before being arrested and administered the death sentence.
He said the choice of wording is beyond the basic values of all religions, humanity and civilization.
“Paragraph 66 is barbaric, unconstitutional and completely unacceptable,” said Bishop Azad, adding that this has severely dented the credibility of the judgement.
“We have huge respect for the former president and the Pakistan Army. As president, Gen Musharraf gave the Christians the right to vote and also made efforts to hand over the Christian educational institutes to the church, including the Forman Christian College University,” he said, adding that his services to the community could never be forgotten.
Minister Ejaz Augustine said that the minorities of Pakistan were shocked to read the verdict condemning the former COAS.
Augustine also criticised the words used for the former president, saying it was against the norms of decency.
Bishop Malik and Archbishop Shaw also expressed their concern over the conviction of Gen Musharraf, saying those who had looted and plundered the country were never punished whereas the person who had served the country faithfully had been termed as a traitor by the court.
