Summary Supreme Court on Thursday resumed hearing of treason case against ex-president Pervez Musharraf.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, was hearing a set of petitions seeking the initiation of a treason case against the former army strongman.
Musharraf’s counsel, Ibrahim Satti, was presenting his arguments before the court.
Sati also argued that the verdict of July 31 had been announced by 14-memebr bench; so the same bench should be formed for hearing of the aforesaid case. “If there are ambiguities in the rules and regulations of the Supreme Court, the constitution of the state would be preferred”, argued the learned counsel.
He also said that the neighbouring country India also has formed a constitutional court in order to tackle such hurdles and complexities.
Satti said Musharraf was not a party in the petition in which a ruling was issued against him.
Moreover, Attorney General Irfan Qadir said the measures taken on Novermber 3, 2007 were unnecessary.
Upon which, Justice Khawaja asked as to what the attorney general meant by “unnecessary”.
Earlier during Wednesday’s hearing, Musharraf suggested to the bench to summon people who had aided, abetted or collaborated in his emergency proclamation of November 3, 2007.
“Their presence is necessary in the proceedings under the constitutional jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under enforcement of the fundamental rights,” a reply submitted by the retired general said.
The former military ruler is also accused in cases pertaining to unlawful detention of superior court judges, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in 2007 as well as the 2006 killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Khan Bugti.
Musharraf returned to Pakistan last month after nearly four years of self-imposed exile to contest the May 11 general election.
However, election officials have barred Musharraf from running for the National Assembly, effectively derailing his attempts to regain a place in politics by standing at the polls.
Although Musharraf’s legal battles have provided an electrifying sideshow in the election race, he commands scant popular support and the outcome of the drama is unlikely to have much impact on the final results.
