‘Drag Musharraf's corpse to central square, hang for 3 days'

ISLAMABAD: Pervez Musharraf 's corpse should be dragged to the central square in Islamabad and hanged for three days if the former military dictator dies before his execution, a special court in Pakistan which sentenced him to death said on Thursday in a bizarre judgement.

The three-member special court bench sentenced 76-year-old Musharraf to death in absentia on Tuesday for high treason following a six-year legal case.

In its 167-page detailed judgement authored by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, who headed the bench, the court on Thursday said the "convict be hanged by his neck till he dies on each count as per charge."

Justice Seth wrote that Musharraf should be hanged even if he dies before his execution.

"We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan and be hanged for 03 days," he wrote.

D-Chowk, or Democracy Chowk is close to several important government buildings - the Presidency, the Prime Minister's office, the Parliament, and the Supreme Court.

The verdict against Musharraf was split by 2-1 as Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court supported the death sentence while Justice Nazar Akbar of the Sindh High Court disagreed and wrote a dissenting note.