Former President General (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf has said (on 29-08-2009) that Mian Nawaz Sharif also committed treason by dismissing him from service without a show cause notice or right of appeal. It is stated in the constitution of Pakistan vide Article-8 that "laws inconsistent with or in derogation of the fundamental rights to be void". However, Article 8 (3-a) also states that the provisions of this Article shall not apply to any law relating to members of the Armed Forces or of the Police or of such other forces as are charged with the maintenance of public order, for the purpose of ensuring the proper discharge of their duties or the maintenance of discipline among them". In view of the above, the fundamental right to be heard i.e. issuance of a show cause notice was not available to General (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf before termination of his service unlike the case of other civil servants who have been provided with this right by the Shariat Appellate Bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan in September 1987. However, the right of appeal did exist for General (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf which, as we all know, he chose not to avail and instead broke the constitution by dismissing the government, cabinet and Parliament. That is high treason under Article 6. -DR M. YAQOOB BHATTI, Lahore, via e-mail, August 31.