Interior secretary summoned in Musharraf treason case
August 20, 2018
ISLAMABAD: A special court on Monday summoned the interior secretary over non-arrest of former president Pervez Musharraf in a high treason case despite issuance of non-bailable warrants against him.
A two-judge bench headed by Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Justice Yawar Ali and comprising Sindh High Court’s (SHC) Justice Nazar Akbar heard the high treason case against Musharraf.
The court observed that Musharraf has been declared proclaimed offender and despite issuance of non-bailable warrants against him, he was not presented before the bench.
To this, the former president’s counsel Advocate Akhtar Shah said, “My client wants to appear for the trial and should be provided security.”
Summoning the interior secretary for the next hearing, the court adjourned the hearing till August 29.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had filed the treason case against Musharraf over the president's imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.
Last month, head of the prosecution, Mohammad Akram Sheikh, tendered his resignation. In his resignation letter sent to the interior secretary, Sheikh expressed his inability to proceed with the case after the change of government at the centre.
Sheikh was appointed as the head of the prosecution in the case in November 2013, by the then-PML-N led government.
The former army chief was indicted in the case in March 2014 after he appeared before the court and rejected all charges.
On March 18, 2016, the former president left Pakistan for Dubai for medical treatment after his name was removed from the Exit Control List on the orders of the Supreme Court.
A few months later, however, the special court declared him a proclaimed offender and ordered the confiscation of his property owing to his no-show.
