Treason trial: Court forms board to verify Musharraf’s health

Defence team gains a week’s respite for former president.

ISLAMABAD:

Former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on Thursday gained at least a week’s respite from an arrest order after the special court again exercised restraint in the high treason case and ordered instead the formation of a medical board to review his health condition.

Thursday was one of the busiest days for Musharraf’s legal team, as his lawyers appeared before various courts in connection with cases against their client. With the high treason case under way before the special court; the judges’ detention case in the Anti-Terrorism Court and an intra-court appeal and filing of a writ petition at the Islamabad High Court, the defence team seemingly had its hands full.

Amidst tight security arrangements and countless TV cameras in the special court similar to January 3 – the day when Musharraf was shifted to hospital – prosecutor Akram Sheikh feverishly opposed the absence of the accused on Thursday’s hearing. He claimed that Musharraf’s absence was deliberate.

He implored the bench to exercise its discretion by refusing to hear the counsel for the accused on any point, including that of the special court’s jurisdiction.



Permission sought to go abroad

The legal team sought permission from the court to allow the accused to go to the US for treatment, and also reiterated that the former army man is not well enough to appear in court.

“In view of the conflicting stand of both the sides with regard to the failure of the accused to appear before this court, we are left with two options —either to presume that the accused is avoiding to appear before this court or to verify the state of health of the accused by constituting a medical board comprising of senior doctors of Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology,” read the written order of the court.

The court then held that the accused is still hospitalised and has not yet been discharged, therefore saying, “We opt for constituting a medical board of senior doctors of AFIC, where the accused is said to be undergoing medical treatment. The board shall submit its report to this court by January 24, 2013 containing, among others, answers to these questions (I) How precarious is the health condition of the accused which restricts his movement so as to prevent him from attending the court? (II) Has the accused undergone any surgery or other medical procedure during his stay in the hospital or any surgery or is any medical procedure planned to be undertaken during his hospitalisation? (III) For how long has the accused been advised further hospitalisation?”

“Regarding the objections taken by Akram Sheikh as to the non-appearance of the accused, we are of the opinion that the same shall be taken into consideration after we have examined the opinion of the medical report,” the written order said.

During the hearing, Justice Arab also observed that bitterness had returned to the courtroom when both the defence and prosecution raised objections over each other’s conduct. A member of Musharraf’s team complained that Sheikh was ridiculing a general of the Pakistan army by calling him a traitor. Sheikh refuted the allegations.

Advocate Ibrahim Satti told the court that on January 20, a bench of the apex court will hear a review petition of Musharraf against the July 31, 2009 order. He sought adjournment and asked the court to show respect for superior courts. But Justice Faisal Arab asked him to leave the matter to the special court to decide this issue.

ATC summons Musharraf on Jan 27

The anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday ordered that the former president be presented before the bench on January 27 at all costs. Hearing the judges’ detention case, the court ordered for Musharraf to appear before it by 12:30pm after Musharraf’s counsel Malik Ilyas Siddiqui said his client is unable to appear due to illness.

Siddiqui also filed a petition seeking exemption of his client from appearance in the court, which was dismissed straightaway.

After a short recess, Director Security of the Ministry of Interior Nadeem Hashmi appeared before the court, assuring it that they will provide foolproof security to Musharraf during his hearing in the court. A senior official of Islamabad police informed the court that Musharraf is already on bail in the case which is why the police could not arrest him. He said if the court ordered the same, the police will abide by the order.

IHC judge recuses himself   

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court on Thursday distanced himself from the bench constituted to hear the intra-court appeal filed by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf seeking a transfer of his high-treason trial under Article 6 to the military courts.

The two-judge bench comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi was constituted to hear the intra-court appeal.

When the bench commenced hearing, Musharraf’s legal team led by Ahmad Raza Kasuri started levelling accusations against former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as well as a member of the bench, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, for being biased towards the former president.

However, Justice Siddiqui replied that the same court had also given the petitioner relief in shape of bail in the judges’ detention and Ghazi Abdur Rasheed murder cases.

Since the team expressed its lack of trust in him, Justice Siddiqui recused himself from the bench and referred the case to Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Justice Anwar Khan Kassi.

The IHC also rejected a plea filed by Musharraf’s legal team seeking the court to set aside a special court order that asked the former president to appear on Thursday.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2014.