Former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf has filed another petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC), urging it to stay the proceedings pending before a special court in Islamabad in the high treason case.
The petition, filed through advocates Khawaja Ahmad Tariq Raheem and Azhar Siddique, stated that the appointment of a prosecution team and the constitution of a special court were illegal and in violation of articles 90 and 91 of the constitution. The petition asks the court to stay the trial at the special court until Musharraf’s earlier petition pending adjudication by the LHC is decided. The application has also sought complete trial record of the special court.
The petition says that the proceedings in the high treason case had not been initiated by the federal government in terms of articles 90 and 91 read with the rules of business and parameters laid down by the Supreme Court in the 2016 Mustafa Impex case judgment – through which the apex court had settled law which had to be applied retrospectively.
According to the application, the complaint against Musharraf had been filed on the directions of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2013 who ‘in isolation’ was directly aggrieved by the act of the former president. It was filed without following the procedure regarding consultation and approval of the cabinet which is in defiance of the constitution and principles set out by the apex court, it says. “It is also an admitted position that the mandatory procedure as set out in the High Treason Act, 1973, as well as Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1976, has not been followed in letter and spirit,” the application states, adding that no approval had been taken from the federal government and the matter had not been placed before the cabinet.
It requests the court to stay the proceedings of the special court until the writ petition pending before the LHC is decided. It also asks the high court to direct the federal government to produce the complete trial record of the special court for the purpose of ‘adequate and full adjudication’ of the petition on the principles of merit as well as on the constitutional issues raised in it.
The application will be heard by LHC’s Justice Syed Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi on Monday (tomorrow).
