Special court to hear case against Musharraf on daily basis from October 24

A special court on Tuesday decided to hear the high treason case against former military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf (retd) on daily basis from October 24. A three-judge bench headed by Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth, while hearing the case directed all parties to submit their written arguments before the next hearing. At the start of the hearing, an application was submitted on behalf of Musharraf's counsel Raza Bashir for deferment of the hearing due to his bad health.

According to the plea, Bashir is suffering from dengue and is under treatment at Mayo Hospital Lahore. The plea was granted. During the last hearing in September, the same court had ordered that the proceedings in the treason trial would resume on a daily basis from October 8. Chief Justice Peshawar High Court (PHC) Waqar Ahmad Seth was tasked with hearing the case by the federal government after retirement of Justice Tahira Safdar - who was earlier heading the court.

The high treason trial of the former military dictator for clamping the state of emergency on November 3, 2007 has been pending since December 2013. He was booked in the treason case in December 2013. He 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.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019