LAHORE (Pakistan Point News / Online - 16th December, 2019) The Lahore High Court on Monday issued a notice to the Federal government on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf's miscellaneous application urging the high court to stay the high treason case proceedings pending before a special court in Islamabad.Musharraf in his application has asked the high court to declare the proceedings pending before the special court and all actions against him from initiation of the high treason complaint to the appointment of the prosecutor and constitution of the trial court as unconstitutional.
The three-member special court is expected to announce its verdict in the long-drawn high treason case tomorrow (December 17), despite an earlier Islamabad High Court (IHC) order stopping the special court from issuing the verdict it had reserved in the case last month.The IHC's order had come on November 27 a day before the special court was set to announce its verdict.On Saturday, in an application filed through advocates Khawaja Ahmad Tariq Raheem and Azhar Siddique, Musharraf asked the LHC to stay the trial at the special court until his earlier petition pending adjudication by the high court is decided.
In that petition, the former dictator had challenged the formation of a special court holding his trial under charges of high treason and legal flaws committed in the procedure.The application urged the high court to immediately suspend all actions, including the filing of the complaint, submission of a challan, the appointment of a prosecution team and constitution of the trial court.During today's proceedings, Justice Syed Mazahar Akbar Ali Naqvi asked why the second application was submitted if another petition by Musharraf was already being heard in the LHC.
Siddique, Musharraf's counsel, said this was a miscellaneous application."Would it be reasonable to form a full bench to hear Musharraf's petitions?" asked Justice Naqvi, in response to which Siddique and the government lawyer said the court had nearly heard the entire matter and there was no need to form a full bench.Issuing a notice to the federal government on Musharraf's application for tomorrow, the court decided to hear it alongside the main petition set for hearing in the LHC on Tuesday.
The high treason trial of the former military dictator for clamping the state of emergency on Nov 3, 2007, has been pending since December 2013.He was booked in the treason case in December 2013. Musharraf was indicted on March 31, 2014, and the prosecution had tabled the entire evidence before the special court in September the same year. However, due to litigation at appellate forums, the trial of the former military dictator lingered on and he left Pakistan in March 2016.
