Daily Times

The federal interior ministry and former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf both submitted pleas in the Islamabad High Court on Monday, requesting it to stop the special court from announcing its reserved verdict in the high treason case against the former army chief, a private TV channel reported.

The special court, constituted to try the former military ruler for high treason, is set to announce its verdict on Nov 28. The IHC will hear the case on Tuesday (today).

In its plea, the interior ministry has stated that the prosecution team was denotified on Oct 23, but it proceeded with the case on Oct 24 without having any authority in the matter. It said in the petition that the prosecution team submitted written arguments for which it had no authority. The special court, without giving a chance for the prosecution team to be notified, reserved the verdict on November 19 and set the date of November 28 for announcing it, it added.

According to the petition, any verdict issued on the basis of written arguments filed unlawfully by the denotified prosecution team ‘cannot be deemed to be a judgement [passed] after hearing the prosecution’. The ministry requested the IHC to set aside the special court’s Nov 19 order to reserve its judgement in the treason case. It added that in the interim, the operation of the order be suspended, and the interior ministry be given the opportunity to re-notify a prosecution team for the case.

The ministry stated that if the special court proceeds to pass its judgement without hearing the prosecution, “the accused (Musharraf) will be handed an opportunity to escape punishment for purely technical legal faults”. It argued that the federal government has the mandate to change the prosecution team and cited a ‘defective application of procedure, lengthy delay and expense incurred at [the] trial’ as reasons for denotifying the prosecution team in the case.

The petition also asked the IHC to restrain the special court from issuing its final judgement in the case until the requirements of Section 6 of the Criminal Law Amendment (Special Court) Act, 1976, have been complied with.

Meanwhile, Musharraf’s lawyer Salman Safdar stated in the plea that the former army chief should be treated as per the law, adding that Musharraf was not given the right to defend himself in the case. Musharraf’s plea mentioned that the decision is in contradiction to Article 4 and Article 10A of the constitution.

Meanwhile, a bench of the Lahore High Court on Monday heard former president Pervez Musharraf’s petition challenging the special court’s decision to reserve its verdict of high treason case against him.

A high court bench comprising Justice Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi directed the counsel of former president to present arguments on maintainability of the petition on Tuesday (today).

Musharraf in his petition said that the special court reserved the judgment of the case on November 19 without hearing his stance. The former president made the federal government, Federal Ministry of Law and Justice, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Registrar Special Court parties in his petition. “I am sick and staying in a foreign country for medical treatment,” he said. “I could not be able to present my stance in the special court due to my illness,” he further said.

The former president pleaded to the court for revision of the case as per the judgments of the Supreme Court and suspension of the special court’s decision about reserving the verdict in the high treason case against him. He sought the court order for postponement of the hearing of the case till he recovers to health. He also sought the court to issue an order for constitution of an impartial medical board for him.

Special Court had reserved its verdict of high treason case against the former president, which is scheduled to be announced on November 28. Musharraf failed to appear before the court during the hearing of the case after going to Dubai for medical treatment in 2016. The hearing of the case was conducted by a three-member bench presided over by Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth. Musharraf’s lawyer Raza Bashir did not show up before the court in the hearing as he was in Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah. During the hearing, the court had remarked that Musharraf’s lawyers can submit their written arguments regarding the case till November 26.