ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the federal government to inform it about the possible measures for bringing former president reti­red Gen Pervez Musharraf back home to face the pending treason trial initiated against him.

“Attorney General Anwar Mansoor will seek instructions from the authorities concerned to apprise about steps taken to bring Musharraf back to face the trial,” ordered Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa while heading a three-judge SC bench.

Gen Musharraf left for the United Arab Emirates for treatment of his spinal injury in March 2016 and since then he has been staying outside the country.

The Supreme Court had taken up a set of petitions moved by former president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association Taufiq Asif and Sheikh Ahsan-ud-Din seeking initiation of contempt of court proceedings against government officials, including the secretaries of interior and law and justice, and the Federal Investigation Agency for not obeying the July 3, 2013 order in which the federal government had been directed to proceed against Gen Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution (high treason).

Ex-military ruler facing treason charges left for UAE for treatment in March 2016

The apex court also ordered the registrar of the special court seized with the high treason case against Gen Musharraf to furnish a report on the progress made so far as well as the reasons for delay in the treason trial. The requisitioned report should reach the Supreme Court within a fortnight, the order said. The apex court office was directed to re-list the case when it received the report.

The court also issued notices to the government authorities concerned to determine how the special court would proceed in the absence of Gen Musharraf. It noted that a criminal case had been registered against Pervez Musharraf on charges of high treason but its trial had been stalled because it was pending before the special court under the Criminal Law Amendment (Special Court) Act, 1976.

The special court held the last hearing of the case against Gen Musharraf in October last year.

The apex court also recalled its 2016 order in the former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar case in which it had expressed the hope that the special court would proceed with the treason trial against Gen Musharraf without any unnecessary delay.

In the case, Justice Dogar as then judge of the Supreme Court, reproduced different excerpts from the July 31, 2009 verdict that had declared the Nov 3, 2007 emergency unconstitutional, as well as a number of other judgements, including one by the Sindh High Court, to establish that Gen Musharraf had proclaimed the state of emergency in his own discretion.

On Thursday, Chief Justice Khosa observed that the statement of Gen Musharraf under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code could be recorded through video link if the former military ruler was not inclined to return to the country. And if the former president still refuses to record his statement, the special court can assume that he has denied the treason charges and can write “denied” before every statement by the suspect and proceed further.

The chief justice said it was the government’s responsibility to place Gen Musharraf’s name on the Exit Control List as well as to bring him back to the country, adding that the court could not remain hostage to a suspect. Did courts become helpless if a suspect did not show up, the chief justice asked, observing that no suspect was big or small and everyone was equal in the eyes of the law.

The court, however, disposed of the contempt of court petitions and postponed further proceedings till March 25.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2019