The country’s five high courts on Tuesday submitted to the Supreme Court the names of judges to form a special court that will take up treason charges against former president Pervez Musharraf.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali on Sunday said the government had sent a one-page letter to the SC registrar, requesting to form a special court to try Musharraf.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry had asked the chief justices of the high courts to nominate by Tuesday a judge each from their respective courts.
The judges are Islamabad High Court’s Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi, Justice Yawar Ali Khan from the Lahore High Court, Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, Balochistan High Court’s Justice Tahira Safdar and Justice Yahya Afridi of the Peshawar High Court.
Separately, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has approved names of three Judges for the special court. The judges are Faisal Arab, Syeda Tahira Safdar and Yawar Ali. The judges have been selected on the basis of seniority.
The trial will be held under the High Treason (Punishment) Act 1973, which suggests death or imprisonment for life as the punishment for high treason defined in Article 6 of the constitution.
The special court will have an exclusive jurisdiction and no other court would be able to interfere in its trial.
The federal government has decided to invoke the power vested in it under Section 4 of the Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act 1976 (Act No. XVII of 1976) to establish a special court to try Gen Musharraf for various offences falling under Section 2 of the High Treason (Punishment) Act 1973, the government said in its letter sent to the chief justice.
“The law provides that the special court shall comprise three serving judges of the high courts. Since there are five high courts and it will be difficult to nominate three judges from these five high courts for the special court, it will be appropriate that the apex court may nominate any three judges from the high courts for the special court,” said the letter.
Separately, the Interior ministry has ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to prepare the prosecution for the trial, a private TV channel reported.
The All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) had said the general would face the charges and prove his innocence.
