Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Following the orders of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, the federal government on Wednesday notified Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali as president and Justice Nazar Akbar as judge of the Special Court, that would try former military dictator Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf in high treason case.

Justice Nazar Akbar will replace Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, who had recused himself from the bench on March 29, 2018. On the last hearing of the case, the counsel for Musharraf had alleged that Justice Afridi had been representing former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in a case against the November 3, 2007, emergency, promulgated by former dictator. Yahya Afridi became head of Special Court when Peshawar High Court’s Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, was elevated to Supreme Court on December 30, 2016. Before his elevation to the apex court, Justice Miankhel on July 20, 2016, had directed the State Bank of Pakistan to freeze General (r) Pervez Musharraf’s bank accounts, besides confiscation of properties owned by him.

Justice Faisal Arab was the first head of the Special Court and Justice Yawar Ali and Justice Tahira Safdar its members. When Justice Faisal Arab became the Supreme Court judge on December 14, 2015, Justice Miankhel replaced him. The federal government on December 12, 2013 had filed a private complaint against former president and chief of army staff (COAS) General (r) Pervez Musharraf for subverting, abrogating, suspending, and holding in abeyance the Constitution. It sought Musharraf’s trial, conviction and punishment as envisaged in Article 6 of the constitution.

Published in Daily Times, June 14^th 2018.