Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A special court in Islamabad on Monday fixed for hearing a high treason case against former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf.

A three-member bench headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Yahyah Afridi will resume on March 8 the hearing of the case pertaining to the imposition of emergency in the country in 2007. The court issued a notification directing the chief commissioner, inspector general and additional IG of police in Islamabad to arrange “fool proof security arrangements” for the former military dictator.

The former ruler was indicted in March 2014 after he made an appearance before the court, rejecting all charges against him in front of the three-member special bench. The charges read out to Musharraf were the same ones put forward by the government in 2013 – for subverting and circumventing the constitution of Pakistan by imposing emergency on November 3, 2007 – when it moved to form the special bench.

On March 18, 2016, the former president flew to Dubai for medical treatment shortly after his name was removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) on the Supreme Court’s directives.

On May 11, 2016, a three-judge bench headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel declared former president Musharraf a proclaimed offender in the high treason case. The special court had directed the Interior Ministry and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to advertise the court verdict. A year later, a special court restrained his counsel from presenting his arguments, noting that it could not hear the lawyer of an absconder. In May 2017, Musharraf had expressed through a plea his willingness to face the high treason trial under the army’s protection and on assurance from the court that he would be given a safe passage to return to Dubai.

Published in Daily Times, February 27^th 2018.