PESHAWAR, March 25: A writ petition was filed with the Peshawar High Court on Monday seeking orders for the federal government to arrest and try former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for high treason.

The petitioner, former vice president of Supreme Court Bar Association Barrister Baachaa, prayed the court to direct the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) not to accept the nomination papers of Musharraf to contest the forthcoming elections to the National or a provincial assembly until such time that the petition is finally disposed of and the cases of high treason, murder and for bartering away to the US the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan are decided.

The petitioner also requested the court to order ECP to disqualify for participation in the forthcoming elections that ‘political party or group as an abettor in the crimes of Musharraf, if such party or group attempts to provide a cover of respectability and acceptability to him by allying itself with him for the purpose of contesting the forthcoming election, adopting him as a candidate of the party or group or facilitating his candidature in any way and to whatever extent.’

The respondents in the petition are the federal government through the interior secretary, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through the home secretary, the chief of the army staff, ECP through the chief election commissioner, and Musharraf.

The petitioner requested the court to direct the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for initiating proceedings against Musharraf for aiding and abetting the US in killing and maiming thousands of Pashtun Pakistani citizens in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and tribal areas and destroying their homes, hujras, mosques and shrines.

He further prayed the court to direct the chief of the army staff to proceed against Musharraf for the death of a large number of personnel and officers of Pakistan Army, who were left at the mercy of Indian Army in Kargil, abandoning Pakistan Army valiant fighters helpless, without food and ammunition.

Barrister Baachaa also sought directions for the federal government to make Musharraf answerable for handing over hundreds of the nation’s youths to the US and for their mental and physical torture in Guantanamo Bay and Bagram Airbase prisons since 2001.

The court was also prayed for issuance of orders to the federal government to proceed against Musharraf for allowing the US to violate with impunity the sovereignty of Pakistan, thereby lowering the moral of the nation and of Pakistan Army to the extent that the nation has lost faith in its armed forces’ ability, readiness and willingness to defend the sovereignty of Pakistan in the face of aggression from the enemy.

The petitioner said in Nov 2007, only days before a bench of the Supreme Court was to decide on a petition challenging the constitutional validity of his re-election as president in the ‘sham’ Oct 2007 elections, Musharraf, as the chief of the army staff suspended the Constitution, jailed several judges and lawyers, ordered the arrest of political dissidents and human right activists, and shut down all private television channels.

He added that he had violated Article 6 of the Constitution, which was an act of high treason and he was, therefore, guilty, and remained guilty, of high treason.