RAWALPINDI: A high treason case against former army chief and president General (r) Pervez Musharraf will be heard by a special court on August 20.
The bench will be headed by Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali and will comprise Balochistan High Court (BHC) Justice Tahira Safdar and Sindh High Court (SHC) Justice Nazar Akbar.
According to media reports, the meeting held on August 1 between the three-member bench headed by Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and comprising chief justices of Lahore and Balochistan High Courts, decided to “resume the case which pertains to the imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in the country in 2007”.
Moreover, the judges are likely to hold another meeting on August 13 in Lahore.
The case has been pending since 2013 and according to legal experts, “it is a big test for the superior judiciary”.
Moreover, mainstream party leaders have voiced their concerns regarding the issue and stated that “treason is a graver offence than others, including corruption”.
Last month, head of the prosecution, Mohammad Akram Sheikh, tendered his resignation.
Sheikh, in his letter to the interior secretary, stated that he was “unable to proceed with the case after the imminent change of government at the Centre”.
Sheikh, known to be a close aide of the PML-N, was appointed as the head of the prosecution team in Musharraf case on December 4, 2013.
In March 2014, the former army chief was indicted in the case after he appeared before the court and rejected all charges. The charges read out to Musharraf were the same that were slapped by the government in 2013 at the time of the formation of the special bench – subverting and circumventing the Constitution by imposing emergency on November 3, 2007.
Later in 2016, the former president left Pakistan for Dubai for medical treatment after his name was removed from the Exit Control List on the orders of the Supreme Court.
He was declared a proclaimed offender in the same year by the special court. Moreover, the special court had directed the interior ministry and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to advertise the court verdict about the confiscation of his property.
Later, on orders of the Supreme Court, Musharraf’s passport and identity card were also cancelled since he failed to return to the country despite the last chance. It was also reported that he had expressed, through a plea, his willingness to face the high treason trial under the army’s protection, and on the assurance from the court that he would be given a safe passage to return to Dubai.
In 1999, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had filed the treason case against Musharraf as for alleged violation of Article 6 of the Constitution with his military coup d’état against Nawaz Sharif’s government.
