Musharraf treason case: PHC chief justice to head special court

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has notified the Peshawar High Court chief justice as the head of the special court that is trying former president Pervez Musharraf and others for high treason.

With the elevation of Justice Faisal Arab to the Supreme Court, the law ministry has notified Mazhar Alam Miankhel as the special court’s head, official sources have revealed to The Express Tribune. The other members of the special court are Justice Tahira Safdar of the Balochistan High Court and Justice Yawar Ali of the Lahore High Court.

Miankhel was appointed as PHC additional judge in 2009. He will retire as a PHC judge in July 2019. On December 17, 2015, the government had approached the chief justice of Pakistan under the Criminal Law Amendment (Special Courts) Act of 1976, and sought a candidate among high court CJs to restore the special court by filling the vacancy.

In the previous hearing of the high treason case on December 17, the Federal Investigation Agency had sought another 30 days to complete the inquiry against Musharraf. The next hearing has been fixed for January 13.

The special court had ordered reinvestigation of the case and directed the FIA to record fresh statements of Musharraf, Justice (retd) Abdul Hameed Dogar, former premier Shaukat Aziz and former law minister Zahid Hamid. The FIA said the defence secretary had been requested through a reminder to provide documents related to the proclamation of emergency in November 2007.

The agency said the joint investigation team decided to first record the testimony of Musharraf and wrote a letter to him on December 10. He was told that the JIT intended to record his statement on December 14. Musharraf’s staff, however, replied that he was not available on December 14 and confirmed his availability on December 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2016.