IHC nullifies special court verdict, orders re-investigation into Musharraf treason case

Special court’s order was challenged by former PM Shaukat Aziz, former CJP Abdul Hameed Dogar and Zahid Hamid

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) set aside on Tuesday a special court’s order last year that called on the federal government to include more names as abettors in former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s act of imposing emergency in November 2007.

A division bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Noorul Haq Qureshi and Justice Aamer Farooq, ordered reinvestigation in the treason case against Musharraf in light of the federal government’s earlier proposal to reinvestigate the matter.

The special court’s November 21, 2014 order was challenged through petitions filed by former premier Shaukat Aziz, former Supreme Court chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and former law minister Zahid Hamid.

The IHC had reserved its verdict in the Musharraf treason case last month after the three petitioners had challenged the special court’s verdict.



Further, the court dismissed a petition filed by the former president of the High Court Bar Association of Rawalpindi, Taufiq Asif, saying the petitioner had no locus standi (the right or capacity to bring an action or to appear in a court) in the case.

Later, addressing the media outside the court, Chaudhry Faisal, one of Musharraf’s counsels, maintained that in the light of the court’s verdict, the former president will now be reinvestigated in the treason case.

In May this year, the federal government had also challenged the special court’s order saying the order was ‘patently illegal’ as the court had no jurisdiction for impleading names of co-accused, especially since the prosecution had completed its evidence.



In June 2013, an anti-terrorism court had indicted Musharraf in the judges’ detention case. According to the charge sheet, the military ruler had imposed a state of emergency and detained the judges.