ISLAMABAD: Friday’s order of the special court, which is hearing the high treason case, has asked the JIT (which will be set up to investigate abettors) to report back to it on December 17, but did not clarify what would happen to the ‘solo’ trial of retired General Pervez Musharraf.

The three-judge special court, comprising Chief Justice of Sindh High Court (SHC) Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Tahira Safdar of Balochistan High Court (BHC) and Justice Yawar Ali of Lahore High Court (LHC), which held a hearing on Friday, has asked the JIT to submit its new investigation report on December 17, the next date of hearing. The order added that if the investigation was not complete by then, a progress report should be presented to the court.

The JIT, which is yet to be formed by the government, will carry out fresh investigations to determine the role of government officials other than Gen Musharraf in imposing the 2007 ‘emergency’.

Defence counsel argues that Musharraf’s trial can only commence after re-investigation of treason case

However, the special court did not clarify whether it will begin hearing the treason case against Musharraf while the investigations are being carried out by the JIT, or if it will for the others to be identified and then try them all jointly.

The government had filed a complaint against Gen Musharraf in December 2013.

The former military ruler was indicted for high treason in March 2014 and the last prosecution witness, head of the previous JIT Khalid Qureshi, had testified before the special court in October last year.

On Nov 21, 2014, the special court ordered the federal government to include three abettors - federal minister Zahid Hamid, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and former Chief Justice of Pakistan Abdul Hamid Dogar - in the treason case.

The alleged abettors challenged the special court order in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in Dec 2014. Because of this, the special court had to wait for the IHC decision before resuming trial.

The IHC on Nov 10, 2015 set aside the special court order that had named Mr Hamid, Mr Aziz and Mr Doga,r and directed the federal government to re-investigate the matter in order to determine if there were any abettors.

The special court too has now asked for this fresh investigation. But what does this mean for the trial against Musharraf?

Last year, the court had heard the prosecution’s case. It is, however, still to record Gen Musharraf’s statement and then the defence counsel’s case, including its witnesses.

According to advocate Faisal Hussain, counsel for Gen Musharraf, the trial can only commence after the re-investigation of the treason case.

Barrister Farogh Nasim, the lead defence counsel, had pointed out during the trial that Gen Musharraf could only be tried along with the abettors.

He pointed out that Section 2 of Article 6 of the Constitution as well as Sub-Section 1 (CC) of Section 6 of the Special Court Act 1976 made it mandatory that the main accused and the abettors “shall be tried together.”

At the same time, Friday’s proceedings made it appear as if the reinvestigation would not be completed soon.

Mohammad Akram Sheikh, head of the prosecution team, told the special court that though the federal government is ready to re-investigate the matter, it could only do so once it had appealed against the IHC order.

“The federal government is in the process of filing a review petition before the IHC,” he said, adding that the JIT would be constituted after the IHC would dispose of the review petition.

According to him, the government wanted a review of the IHC order to seek clarity on some key issues related to the re-investigation of the treason case.

In addition, he informed the special court that the members of the JIT which probed the treason case in 2013 had refused to re-investigate the case.

“The government is looking for suitable investigation officers to conduct the re-investigation but the process would commence after the IHC decides the review petition of the federal government,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2015