The Supreme Court will hear high treason case against former Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf (retd) on March 7. A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan, will take up the constitution petition of Lahore High Court Bar Association, and contempt petitions of advocates Sheikh Ahsan-ud-Din and Taufiq Asif.
A three-member Special Court presided over by Chief Justice Lahore High Court Yawar Ali and comprising Chief Justice Balochistan High Court Tahira Safdar and Justice Nazar Akbar of Sindh High Court heard the federal government's complaint against Pervez Musharraf for promulgating emergency and issuing Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) on 3rd November, 2007. It had directed for constituting a commission to record statement of Musharraf under Section 342 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Since the retirement of Yawar Ali as Chief Justice of Lahore High Court, the federal government has not appointed anyone in his place. The Supreme Court in the Abdul Hameed Dogar case (PLD 2016 SC 454) directed "to proceed with the trial with all convenient dispatch and without any unnecessary delay."
The federal government on 12th December 2013 had filed a private complaint against former President General Pervez Musharraf (retd) for subverting, abrogating, suspending, and holding in abeyance the Constitution. It seeks Musharraf's trial, conviction and punishment as envisaged in Article 6 of the Constitution.
Five purported acts of the high treason against Pervez Musharraf have been mentioned in the complaint. First, on 3rd November 2007, in his capacity as CoAS he issued a proclamation in his own name, to hold the Constitution in abeyance.
Second, Musharraf in his capacity as commander-in-chief of Pakistan Army by adopting unconstitutional means abrogated, subverted/suspended/held in abeyance the Constitution by issuing the proclamation, hence committed the offence of high treason as defined in Article 6 of the Constitution.