ISLAMABAD: The head of the team that investigated treason charges against retired General Pervez Musharraf said in court on Thursday that record related to the imposition of emergency on Nov 3, 2007 was ‘removed’ by the former president’s chief of staff.

On the last day of his cross-examination by defence counsel, FIA Additional Director General Mohammad Khalid Qureshi told the special court headed by Justice Faisal Arab that since Mr Musharraf had issued the emergency order in his capacity as chief of army staff (COAS), his chief of staff was the custodian of the record of the proclamation.

Mr Qureshi said that when the emergency was imposed, retired Lt-Gen Hamid Javed held the post. But when contacted, Mr Javed told Dawn he had retired before the order was issued and had not been in touch with the presidency at the time.

He also reiterated that the military’s General Headquarters (GHQ) did not allow the investigation team access to the relevant record despite repeated attempts.

The concluding paragraph of the 237-page investigation report includes the recommendation: “The team further recommends that the competent authority may also take into account the role of various facilitators in the unconstitutional proclamation of emergency”.

Also Read: ‘Signing emergency order as COAS was Musharraf’s mistake’

In response to a question posed by Barrister Farogh Nasim, Mr Musharraf’s attorney, Mr Qureshi told the court, “The competent authority did not permit for an investigation examining the role of facilitators”.

Mr Qureshi, who is the last prosecution witness in the treason case, said that after filing the complaint against the former military ruler, the investigation team did not seek to determine in progress reports whether any facilitators were involved in the imposition of emergency on Nov 3, 2007.

At one point, Barrister Nasim pointed out that the proclamation specifically stated that “the situation has been reviewed in meetings with the prime minister, governors of all four provinces, and with chairman joint chiefs of staff committee, chief of armed forces, vice chief of army staff and corps commanders of the Pakistan Army” and asked the witness whether the investigation team issued notices to any of the functionaries mentioned in the proclamation.

In response, Mr Qureshi said that statements from only two of the mentioned individuals – Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad and former Punjab Governor retired Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool – had been recorded.

Also Read: Emergency imposed on ‘Shaukat’s advice’

Barrister Nasim also alleged on Thursday that Mr Qureshi – due to his relationship with certain politicians from the ruling party – had deliberately singled out Mr Musharraf in the treason case, adding that the same officer had also implicated the former military ruler in the murder of Benazir Bhutto. The FIA official, however, denied the accusations.

He told the court that as the head of an FIA special investigation unit, the first case he handled was related to the attack on Mr Musharraf in 2008, which is one of only few cases where the suspects were successfully sentenced by the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court.

The special court adjourned further proceedings in the treason trial until Oct 1, when it would take up an application filed by Mr Musharraf’s counsel, seeking the trial of alleged abettors alongside the former president in the same case.

The court is expected to summon Mr Musharraf to record his statement following a decision on the application.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2014