Nomination of special court judges exclusive right of federal govt: Mansoor

ISLAMABAD: The nomination of judges of the special court for treason trial was the exclusive right of the federal government and consultations with the chief justice should not have been done, said the former president Pervez Musharraf’s lawyer in the special court hearing the case on Monday here, Geo News reported.

Continuing his arguments before the three-member special court here, Anwar Mansoor said that the federal government alone has the authority to nominate the judges for the special court.

Justice Faisal Arab intervening quizzed, “Do you want to say that the consultations for the nomination of judges are meaningless?”

Anwar Mansoor replied that the consultations should not have been done with the chief justice, as it was the exclusive right of the federal cabinet to select the judges and following the selection of judges, the chief justice could have been informed.

He further argued if the High Court judges were to be selected, then why the High Court chief justices were not consulted?

Anwar Mansoor referring to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s interview to Saleem Safi of Geo News presented a clipping of Daily Jang in the court, which reported that Nawaz Sharif in his interview had said, “Proceeding under Article 6 was started on the order of the Supreme Court, he has no personal grudge or enmity with anyone and the names of the judges of special court were also given to him.”