LHC reserves verdict on Musharraf petitions

Former president and retired general Pervez Musharraf. Photo: File

The Lahore High Court on Monday reserved a verdict into a plea filed by former president and retired general Pervez Musharraf challenging the formation of a special court in a high treason case that had handed him the death penalty in December last year. 

A special court on December 17 had convicted Musharraf for high treason and handed him the death penalty on five counts in a 2-1 majority verdict. Subsequently, Musharraf had approached the LHC with three petitions, filed earlier this month.

The former president had challenged not only the conviction, but also the formation of the special court that handed him the death penalty for high treason, as well as the complaint filed against him by the government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif that resulted in the trial.

Also read: Formation of special court to try Pervez Musharraf unlawful, expert tells LHC

However, the court had only admitted the petitions challenging the formation of the special court and the complaint registered against the former president. Subsequently, hearings into the case had proceeded before a three-member bench of the high court in the provincial capital. 

The bench, comprising Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti and Justice Chaudhry Masood Jahangi, today reserved a verdict in the case after hearing arguments from the government and the lawyers of the convicted former ruler. 

The government today presented in court the summary and other records related to the formation of the special court set up to try the former president for high treason. In a hearing last week, the court had asked the government for the records after testimony of a legal expert this regard. 

Also read: LHC to take up Musharraf’s petitions against high treason conviction

Additional Attorney-General Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan told the court that the constitution of a special court to try Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution was not part of the agenda of federal cabinet meetings of the government of former premier Nawaz Sharif. 

"The special court was constituted without the formal approval of the cabinet," Khan said in court. Khan also maintained the charges filed against the former president were flimsy, since under the emergency powers of the executive, fundamental rights could be suspended. 

Last week, a legal expert had told the court that the constitution of a special court to try former president Pervez Musharraf was not done according to the law. "The complaint filed against the former president was not filed through the right authority," Barrister Ali Zafar had testified.