LHC seeks reply from govt in Pervez Musharraf's plea against formation of special court

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday served notice to the federal government in a plea of former president Pervez Musharraf against formation of the special court, hearing treason charges against him, ARY News reported.

The federal government has been asked to submit its reply in the plea on December 17 (Tuesday).

Last week, Musharraf’s counsel Khawaja Tariq Rahim had filed petition in the high court.The petition said that the formation of special court for the trial was unconstitutional. “No permission taken from the federal cabinet for initiating trial against Pervez Musharraf,” according to the petition.

The petitioner had requested to the court to summon complete record of the proceedings of the special court and to declare the constitution and proceedings of the special court as unlawful.

Read more: Govt notifies new prosecutor in Musharraf treason case

In an earlier petition in the LHC Pervez Musharraf had sought suspension of the special court’s decision of reserving the verdict in the high treason case against him.

Charges Against Musharraf

The former president is accused of treason under Article 6 for suspending, subverting and abrogating the Constitution, imposing an emergency in the country in November 2007 and detaining judges of the superior courts.

The indictment comprises five charges cited imposition of Nov 3, 2007 emergency as one of the charges against Musharraf which led to the violation of Article 6 of the Constitution.

The indictment also included the deposition of superior court judges and the suspension of fundamental rights among the list of charges.