Resuming treason case hearings: SC gives 30 days to IHC to wrap-up petitions

Court had granted a stay in the case against Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday gave the Islamabad High Court (IHC) a month’s time to conclude hearing of petitions against its earlier judgment that barred the special court from proceeding against former president Musharraf in the high treason case.

The two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Thursday took up the petition, filed by Taufiq Asif, former president of Rawalpindi chapter of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, against the high court’s December 23, 2014 verdict to bar the special court from hearing the high treason case against the former military dictator.

In his application, Asif stated that the IHC had granted a stay against the proceedings in the high treason case and since then the Special Court had deferred the hearings against Musharraf.

He contended that the IHC had no jurisdiction to halt the high treason case proceedings and requested the apex court to declare the ruling null and void so that the former military ruler’s trial could resume.

After hearing the arguments, the bench asked the IHC to decide the appeals against the high treason trial within 30 days.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2015.