Special Court resumes hearing into Musharraf treason case today

ISLAMABAD: The special court will resume the hearing into the treason case against former president Pervez Musharraf, today (Monday).

However, a lawyer representing Musharraf said on Sunday the former army chief would not be able to make a scheduled appearance at his treason trial today because of his illness.

The 70-year-old was rushed to a military hospital on Thursday after developing what a police official called a “heart problem” while being taken to hear treason charges against him at a special tribunal in Islamabad.

Musharraf’s team says the treason allegations, which relate to his imposition of emergency rule in November 2007, are politically motivated and his lawyers have challenged the authority of the three-judge tribunal.

“Everyone is aware of his sickness. The whole world knows that he is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and the court also knows that,” lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri told AFP.

“We just have to make an oral request in the court that since he is not well, his presence should be dispensed with,” Kasuri said. The ex-dictator spent his fourth day in the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi on Sunday.

The court had adjourned its proceedings on Thursday and summoned Musharraf to appear on Monday, but Kasuri said he hoped it would now “exempt his personal presence”. “The court is not making a special concession to Musharraf. It is according to the law. Human life is over and above justice,” Kasuri added.

Doctors treating Musharraf had sent his medical reports to experts in Britain, Kasuri said, to determine his further treatment at home or abroad. The ex-dictator’s sudden health scare was met with scepticism from some observers and feverish media speculation that his departure from Pakistan on medical grounds – possibly to either Saudi Arabia or the UAE – could be imminent.

Some analysts believe such a move is necessary to head off a potentially destabilising clash between the government and the all-powerful military. Aside from the treason allegations, Musharraf also faces trial over the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Talking to a private TV channel, Musharraf’s counsel Kasuri said that he would try to submit Musharraf’s medical report in the court and if the report is not available on time‚ he would file a petition asking the court to exempt him from appearing in person.