ISLAMABAD - The Special Court Thursday decided to conduct hearing in the high treason case against former president and army chief General Pervez Musharraf on daily basis from December 5.
Besides this, three-member Special Court headed by Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth and comprising Justice Nazar Akbar and Justice Shahid Kareem also directed Musharraf to record his statement under Sections 342 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 before that date.
During the hearing, Justice Waqar told the Interior Ministry’s representative present in the court that the high court had granted the government time till December 5 to appoint the prosecution team. “After December 5, we will not give you further time,” he said, adding they would hear the case on a daily basis after that date.
The judge said that Musharraf could record his statements any time before the next hearing, and added that the court would not accept any application after the hearing.
Justice Shahid Karim of the bench said, “We are not bound to implement the high court’s decision. We are only bound by the Supreme Court’s orders.” Justice Waqar added, “We will not comment on the high court decision.”
Will hear high treason case on daily basis from Dec 5
The court also expressed its annoyance over the non-submission of a written reply by Raza Bashir, who was appointed by the Special Court to represent Pervez Musharraf.
Then, the court adjourned the hearing till December 5 for further proceedings.
The former president general (retd) Musharraf is facing high treason case under Article 6 of Constitution for suspending and abrogating the constitution on 3rd November and promulgated emergency and Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) in the country.
It was November 27 when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had stopped the Special Court from announcing its reserved judgment on the petition of Ministry of Interior. “For reasons to be recorded later, we allow writ petition [...] filed by the Ministry of Interior,” said the IHC short order.
The three-member Special Court on November 19 had reserved the verdict.
Later, Secretary Interior Ministry filed the petition under Article 199 of Constitution to set aside the Special Court order dated November 19, 2019.
The petitioner stated that the Special Court’s decision to reserve its verdict in the case is 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 is set to be passed without hearing the prosecution during the trial.
The IHC directed the federal government to notify a new prosecutor or a team of prosecution in the treason case by December 5. In addition, the Special Court was ordered to fix a date ‘for affording a reasonable opportunity of hearing’ to the notified prosecutor or prosecution team as well as the counsel appointed for Musharraf.