Pervez Musharraf high-treason case: IHC pleaded to stop verdict

ISLAMABAD: The interior ministry and former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on Monday furnished pleas with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) requesting that the Special Court be stopped from announcing its reserved verdict in the high-treason case against former army chief General Pervez Musharraf, as the case basis was unconstitutional.

The Special Court has already set November 28 to announce the verdict. In its petition filed through the secretary, the interior ministry stated that the Special Court’s decision to reserve its verdict in the case was in violation of the Constitution because it was issued without giving the ministry the opportunity to notify a new prosecution team in the case and because the judgment was set to be passed without hearing the prosecution during the trial.

The plea stated that Musharraf’s accusers were not included in the trial. The prosecution team was denotified on Oct 23, but it proceeded with the case on Oct 24 without having an authority in the matter, it said.

“The prosecution team submitted written arguments for which it had no authority,” the petition stated. It further said that without giving a chance to the prosecution team to notify, the Special Court reserved its verdict on November 19 and set the date of November 28 for announcing it.

The petition further stated that the government had power to change the prosecution team and requested the court to stop the Special Court for announcing its verdict on November 28.

In his plea filed through his lawyers, accusers stated that being former army chief he should have been treated as per law but he was not given the right to defend himself in the case. He said the decision was in contradiction with Articles 4 and 10-A of the Constitution.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had filed the treason case against Pervez Musharraf for imposing extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007. In March 2014, Pervez Musharraf was indicted in the case after he appeared before the court and rejected all charges.

In March 2016, Musharraf left for Dubai for medical treatment after his name was removed from the ECL on the orders of the Supreme Court. After his continuous inability to appear before the court, the Special Court declared Pervez Musharraf as the proclaimed offender and ordered the seizure of his property.