The Supreme Court (SC) ruled on Tuesday that pleas filed by two former army officers against their convictions for plotting to overthrow the government of late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1995 were “without merit” and hence, stood dismissed.
The two ex-army officers, Col Mohammad Azad Minhas and Col Inayat Ullah Khan, were arrested on Sept 26, 1995, along with now deceased Maj Gen Zaheerul Islam Abbasi, Brig Mustansir Billa and 38 other military officers on the charge of plotting to storm a corps commanders meeting scheduled to be held on Sept 30 that year at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.
The alleged plan included the assassination of then-prime minister Benazir and army chief Gen Waheed Kakar, senior cabinet ministers and military chiefs, to be followed by the proclamation of the Islamic system of Khilafat with Maj Gen Abbasi as Ameerul Momineen.
The details of the conspiracy were revealed after Qari Saifullah Akhtar, one of the conspirators and chief of his breakaway faction called Harkat-ul-Jihad al Islami, turned an approver.
On his witness, the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) awarded seven years of imprisonment to retired Maj Gen Abbasi, when a large cache of arms and military uniforms were confiscated. The FGCM also awarded a 14-year jail term to Brig Mustansir Billa for his alleged involvement in the attempted coup.
Col Minhas and Col Khan were court-martialled in Sept 1996 for their alleged role in the conspiracy by the FGCM and sentenced to four years each in prison by a military court.
Col Khan had challenged the sentence in the Supreme Court in 2000 and Col Minhas in the Lahore High Court which dismissed his appeal in May last year.
In their appeal before the SC, they contended that the sentence was without jurisdiction and with mala fide intention as a consequence of which they had been removed from the military service and their properties and other privileges confiscated.
The apex court had reserved its verdict on their pleas in February last year.
