The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a plea seeking arrest of former dictator Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf and exempted him from personal appearance, as it adjourned the hearing of the treason case against him until April 15.
A two-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Justice Jawwad S Khwaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, resumed hearing in the case against the retired general on Tuesday.
The SC took up five identical petitions against Musharraf involving charges of high treason and subversion of the constitution.
Musharraf did not appear before the bench in person and his counsel, Ahmed Raza Kasuri, represented him in the court. No one represented the federal government during the hearing. However, the court rejected the plea for arrest and adjourned the case until April 15.
Kasuri sought from the court six weeks’ time from Musharraf to submit his response and said he would have to prepare a response to all the petitions. He said that it was a case of first impression, as no other case of this kind had been presented before the court earlier.
He said Musharraf would also be involved in electioneering, so the case may be adjourned until May 20.
During proceedings against the former president, Kasuri argued that his client had full faith in the apex court, but he had feared that some judges of the court were biased against him.
Justice Jawwad S Khwaja said the former general should inform the court about his reservations against judges and the same could be detached from the case hearing.
Kasuri argued that the intent of the petitioners was malafide and the case was being pursued in a hurry and haste just for damaging the former president politically. “My client is being involved in litigation so as he could not spare time for his political campaign,” he contended.
Kasuri said no one had forced the retired general and he had decided on his own to return to his homeland despite facing death threats.
Justice Jawwad replied that the former general had been dodging courts for the past four years.
The bench observed that no stay order regarding the political activity had been issued. Kasuri expressed surprise why the name of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani had been included in the petitions and why was he not served notice in the PCO case. Justice Jawwad, however, said all the respondents had been issued notices.
As proceedings continued, Kasuri sought six-week’s time to submit a reply, but Justice Jawwad said though Musharraf would be given ample time, six weeks were unnecessary.
Kasuri said that if the court continued with the hearing of the case, it might open a Pandora’s Box and several hidden names would be revealed.
Justice Jawwad said the court was not bothered if a Pandora’s Box was opened. Justice Khilji Arif said the court had to follow the constitution.
Talking to reporters prior to the hearing, Attorney General of Pakistan (AG) Irfan Qadir had said he would perform his duties according to the constitution.