Pak SC criticizes govt for failing to take action against Musharraf

The SC of Pakistan said that the federal government has failed to take action against ex-president Pervez Musharraf for violating the Constitution.

Islamabad: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has said that the federal government has failed to take action against former president Pervez Musharraf for violating the Constitution.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Jawad S Khawaja, observed that the federation had so far taken no action against the former military dictator who had been declared a usurper by the apex court on July 31 2009 and against whom the Senate had unanimously passed a resolution on January 23 2012, calling for his arrest whenever he returned to Pakistan, reports The Express Tribune. The bench observed that the federal government had apparently failed to take any action against Musharraf even after he returned to the country last month. The bench also directed Attorney General Irfan Qadir and Acting Law Secretary Sohail Qadeer Qureshi to submit a detailed response with regard to the steps taken by the federation to initiate criminal proceedings against Musharraf. Meanwhile, Musharraf`s counsel Ahmed Raza Kasuri filed an application asking for the setting up of a full court bench, minus Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, to hear the petitions against his client. Earlier, the Supreme Court office had asked him to file separate applications for each of the five petitions. In his reply, Kasuri stressed that the apex court could not order the trial of the former president, as only the federal government could initiate such proceedings. ANI