Pakistan court sentences to death former US-backed military strongman Musharraf

By Sampath Perera
20 December 2019

On Tuesday, a Pakistani court sentenced to death former US-backed military dictator Pervez Musharraf on treason charges stemming from the imposition of a state of emergency in 2007. The sentencing deepened the political crisis within the Islamabad ruling elite.

Predictably, the military rejected the verdict. Prime Minister Imran Khan has also directed his attorney general to defend Musharraf, who was tried in absentia, taking the side of the military in the unfolding crisis. Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan Wednesday condemned “gaps and weaknesses” in the ruling.

After deposing Nawaz Sharif as the elected prime minister in 1999 through a military coup, Musharraf ruled the country until he was forced to step down in 2008. In the face of several court cases, he went into self-exile in March 2016. In a video message from a hospital in Dubai earlier this month, Musharraf claimed the charges are “absolutely baseless.” He’s unlikely to return to Pakistan to face the sentence.

Musharraf played a key role in the United States’ “war on terror,” and the Bush administration viewed him as a “key ally.” After breaking with the Taliban regime in Kabul, under pressure from Washington on the eve of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, he transformed Pakistan into the key US ally in the region in prosecuting this criminal invasion and occupation.

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https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/12/20/mush-d20.html