ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has recused himself from the bench hearing an appeal against post-arrest bail granted to retired General Pervez Musharraf by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in a case relating to detention of judges after the proclamation of emergency on Nov 3, 2007.

“I shall not hear the plea for cancelling the bail granted by the high court,” the chief justice said on Monday and directed the Supreme Court’s office to send the case filed by advocate Aslam Ghumman to another bench.

The court office had placed the appeal before a bench headed by the chief justice who had also remained in detention until his reinstatement in March 2009.

On June 11, the IHC had granted bail to the former president on a surety bond of Rs500,000. A division bench of the high court held that there was no record to determine Mr Musharraf’s role in placing over 60 judges in detention.

Mr Ghumman filed the petition in the apex court, challenging the IHC’s order of granting bail to Mr Musharraf after removing terrorism from the charge-sheet and requesting the apex court to set aside the decision and order his arrest.

He argued that the IHC order was illegal, unjust and arbitrary and had resulted in grave miscarriage of justice because the high court had not followed the dictum of the Supreme Court in its true prospective.

“The judges of the high court could not delete section 7 of the ATA (Anti- Terrorism Act) while deciding the petition for bail after arrest,” he pleaded and said the deletion had prejudiced his case against Mr Musharraf.

On Aug 11, 2009, it may be mentioned, Mr Ghumman had lodged an FIR with the Secretariat police in Islamabad against Musharraf, accusing him of illegally detaining 60 judges after proclaiming emergency.

The judges along with their families were kept under unlawful confinement and restrained from performing their duties, he said in the FIR.

He alleged that the immoral and illegal act of Mr Musharraf had destroyed the judicial system and caused mental torture to lawyers and people.

“The dictator’s act defamed the country in the eyes of international community,” he said.