THIS is with reference to the news report, “Musharraf to be tried for treason: Nawaz” (June 25). I am no legal expert on constitutional jurisprudence but I always thought that an accused is innocent until proven guilty. In Pakistan it seems the other way around; even before trial the one accused is subjected to intensive media trial in which he does not have the right to prove his innocence.

This smacks of bias – we are a nation living in a world shorn of reality – unlike any other nation in the world. When a case is sub-judice must we comment on it? At least everyone agrees that Gen. Pervez Musharraf did not abrogate the constitution but held it in abeyance. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary says that anything held in abeyance means, ‘stopped for a period of time.’ People on TV talk shows, in fact even the anchors lose their cool when anyone so much as suggests that trying Gen. Pervez Musharraf under article 6 of the constitution is unjustified.

We are a one-track nation and serious national cases are put on the backburner. Every second Pakistani has become a gladiator and wants to go for the kill.

‘Treason’ means doing something that could cause danger to your country, such as helping the enemy during war. A person accused of treason is a traitor to the nation. If that is so, how many treason cases will the Supreme Court run wherein every second person in the street has sympathies with the Taliban?

Some are bystanders who refuse to identify the accused; some are religious political leaders who provide money, material and moral support; others are normal men in the street who are asked to provide information regarding VIP movements and to make matters extremely difficult to follow is that the Taliban have penetrated sensitive government departments with informers.

Every Madressah is a hotbed of traitors. The Ghazi brothers of Lal Masjid who challenged the writ of state and ran a parallel government right in the heart of Islamabad are heroes and have the audacity to accuse the Musharraf government of killing innocent people. Here is a plethora of treason cases that are far more dangerous for the survival of the country but has the National Assembly the will to produce a fool-proof document on national security? The national assembly only wants to protect its turf against dictators.

SARDAR AHMED SHAH JAN Peshawar

Learning lesson THE National Assembly has opted to try Gen Pervez Musharraf for treason. Why only Musharraf? We will not benefit from this act. Musharraf’s takeover is the only event in the history of Pakistan where people across the country celebrated his action. Later events and statistics proved it too.

I suggest we should instead learn from the history and form a truth and reconciliatory commission and determine and record facts and move on.

MUSHTAQ H. DAWOOD Karachi