Special court likely to resume hearing in first week of July

LHC’s Justice Yawar Ali to visit Islamabad from July 2 to 4, sources say

ISLAMABAD: After a long gap, the three-judge special court conducting high treason trial of former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf for subverting the Constitution on Nov 3, 2007, is scheduled to hold its next hearing in July, most likely in the first week.

According to the schedule, the Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Yawar Ali, who heads the special court, will stay in Islamabad/Rawalpindi from July 2 to 4. Sources said the purpose of his visit is to hear the treason case.

However, no official schedule for hearing has been issued.  The prosecution team has also not yet received any official word regarding fixation of the case in the next week. According to sources, the high treason case was planned to be restarted earlier but one member of the special court was abroad.

The special court, formed in Nov 2013 by the Supreme Court on request of the former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government, had to be reconstituted as its former head, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, recused himself from hearing the case on March 29.



On April 7, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar proposed fresh composition of the special court, nominating the LHC Chief Justice Yawar Ali as its head and the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) Justice Nazar Akbar and the Balochistan High Court’s (BHC) Justice Tahira Safdar as its members.

The former PML-N led government, however, did not notify the new bench during its tenure and the caretaker government had to issue a notification in this regard after taking charge.

Justice Yawar Ali is set to retire on October 22 this year and it remains to be seen if proceedings of the case could conclude before his retirement. Recently, the apex court had summoned Musharraf, who has been living in UAE for two years, in a matter regarding his disqualification. However, he did not show up.

In April, the PML-N led government had requested the special court to decide the much delayed case without waiting for his attendance. In the application, the prosecution team head Akram Sheikh had argued that even the SC had directed to conclude the trial expeditiously.



The government said it is not just in the interest of Musharraf but of all the stakeholders including the citizens of Pakistan that this trial be concluded within a reasonable time. “Needless to say that this trial being unprecedented will set the tenor for any future trials of high treason cases,” it added.

The government claimed that it seemed from the manifest conduct of the accused that his interest was in ultimately frustrating any culmination of this treason trial.

“Musharraf has categorically made statement to the media abroad that he left the country with the help of his institution, thereby, casting aspersions on armed forces and its then army chief Gen Raheel Sharif.”

The application said the treason proceedings are covered by provision of a special law, which lays down the entire manner of regulating proceedings of those who are present and of those who choose to stay away from the court.

“The law also deals with persons having poor health and declares it not to be a valid ground for adjournment of the case. The law also mandates the special court to pass a judgement notwithstanding the presence or otherwise of the accused,” it said.