LHC to take up Musharraf’s petitions against high treason conviction

LAHORE: A full bench of the Lahore High Court will on Thursday take up three petitions filed by former president General (retired) Pervez Musharraf against his conviction in a high treason trial by a special court  last month, reported The News. 

The former president has challenged not only the conviction, but also the formation of the special court that handed him the death penalty for high treason, as well as the complaint filed against him by the government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif that resulted in the trial. 

According to the report in The News, the petitions filed by the former military ruler had been returned earlier when Musharraf approached the court because the full bench of the court was not available to review the petitions during the winter vacations. 

Also read: Musharraf treason case: Special court hands death penalty to former military ruler

However, a legal panel comprising Khawaja Ahmed, Tariq Rahim and Azhar Siddique on Wednesday filed the applications again. A full bench of the LHC comprising Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti and Justice Chaudhry Masood Jahangir will hear the case today.

A special court had on December 17 convicted Musharraf for high treason and handed him the death penalty on five counts in a 2-1 majority verdict. The three-member bench which heard the case comprised Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth of the Peshawar High Court, Justice Nazar Akbar of the Sindh High Court and Justice Shahid Karim of the Lahore High Court. 

In the civil miscellaneous applications, Musharraf asked the LHC to set aside the special court’s verdict for being illegal, without jurisdiction, unconstitutional, in violation of Articles 10-A, 4, 5, 10 and 10-A of the Constitution. 

Also read: Supporting Musharraf would be an historical injustice, says Raza Rabbani

He pleaded that the impugned verdict be suspended till decision of the main petition and directions be issued to the federal government to produce complete record of the special court. 

He also specifically assailed paragraph 66 of the special court’s verdict, wherein Justice Waqar Seth, in his minority view, said, “We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk, Islamabad, Pakistan, and be hanged for three days.”

Originally published in The News