Rawalpindi (Web Desk): Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor on Thursday said that that the reservations of the armed forces have proven true after a special court issued its detailed verdict on the high treason case against former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf.
Addressing a short press conference, the DG ISPR said that the words used in the verdict were beneath humanity, religion and ethics.
Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor said that for the armed forces, the country came first and institutions later.
The DG ISPR said that the armed forces knew how to defend the institution's integrity and will give an effective response to internal and external enemies of the state.
He said that efforts were being made to weaken Pakistan externally. He said that some elements were trying to destabilise the country by making people fight with one another.
"We will not let this stability be reversed under any circumstances," he said.
"Pakistan Army will fail the attempts of external as well as internal enemies," Major Gen Asif Ghafoor said.
Meanwhile, the federal government has decided to file a reference at the Supreme Judicial Council against Justice Waqar Seth.
Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem said this during a press conference along with special assistants to the prime minister, Firdous Ashiq Awan and Shahzad Akbar on Thursday.
On Tuesday, the three-member bench of the special court had found former Musharraf guilty over high treason and handed him a death sentence under Article 6 of the Constitution.
The three-member special court headed by Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) Waqar Seth and comprising Justice Nazar Akbar of the Sindh High Court (SHC) and Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court (LHC) announced the verdict it had reserved on November 19.
Two out of the three judges were in favour of capital punishment.
Following the verdict, the ISPR had issued a statement, saying the "decision given by special court has been received with lot of pain and anguish by rank and file of Pakistan Armed Forces".
The government had also expressed its reservations over the verdict.
Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan said that fair trial is right of every citizen of the state as per the article 10 (A) of the constitution but Pervez Musharaf was convicted in absentia. He had said that the government will not oppose an appeal against the special court’s verdict.
Pervez Musharraf was charged with abrogating the Constitution twice, and a special court was constituted by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif to try the former military ruler was for high treason.
He was booked in the treason case in December 2013. The former president was indicted on March 31, 2014, and the prosecution had tabled the entire evidence before the special court in September the same year.
However, due to litigation at appellate forums, the trial of the former military dictator lingered on and he left Pakistan in March 2016.