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Musharraf says army backs him over treason ‘vendetta’
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Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf yesterday denounced treason charges against him as a “vendetta”, and said he had the backing of the country’s powerful army in the case.
The 70-year-old said the “whole army” was upset with the treason allegations, in his first comments to international media since he was put under house arrest in April.
The treason claims are the latest and potentially most serious in a flurry of criminal cases relating to Musharraf’s nine-year rule that he has faced since returning to Pakistan in March.
The case could put the government on course for a clash with the army, threatening further instability at a time when the nuclear-armed country is struggling with a homegrown Taliban insurgency, a chronic energy crisis and a stagnant economy.
The military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 66-year history, has not made any direct public comment on the case. But it is thought to be reluctant to have its former chief suffer the indignity of trial by a civilian court.
“I would say the whole army is upset. I have led the army from the front,” Musharraf told reporters at his farmhouse on the edge of Islamabad. “I have no doubt with the feedback that I received that the whole army is ... totally with me on this issue.”
The treason charges relate to Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule in November 2007, and if found guilty he could face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
An initial hearing in the case, being heard by a special tribunal, was halted on December 24 after explosives were found along the route Musharraf was to take to court.
Case of vendetta
The case is due to resume on Wednesday, but Musharraf said he had not yet decided whether he would attend.
“The way this tribunal was formed, which involved the prime minister and the ex-chief justice, this itself smacks a little bit of a vendetta,” he said.
He said he had no objection to defending himself before a “fair tribunal or court” but admitted he was not optimistic about the special panel convened to hear his case.
His lawyers have dismissed the charges as an attempt by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, to settle old scores through the courts.
Analyst Talat Masood, himself a retired general, voiced scepticism about Musharraf’s claims of widespread support among the military.
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