ISLAMABAD: It was not a happy beginning of the year for former military ruler retired General Pervez Musharraf as the special court constituted for his ‘high treason’ trial refused to give further exemption and ordered his appearance on Thursday (today).

The three-judge court, headed by Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, did not appear to have been satisfied with the defence lawyers’ excuse of security concerns and indicated that it would issue arrest warrants if Gen Musharraf failed to appear before it.

Justice Arab said that since the accused was a former president and ex-chief of the army, the court chose not to issue his arrest warrants, but summoned him as per criminal procedure code for an offence for which bail was to be sought. “He has so far not sought protection of bail and in such offence a police officer can arrest him.”

Dictating an order after Wednesday’s proceedings, Justice Arab observed that despite issuance of summons the accused (Gen Musharraf) did not appear and the court was of the view that he should not be arrested as it would amount to his humiliation. But, he said, that “we will be forced to pass an order for taking him into custody” and the court would issue an order on Thursday with regard to his non-appearance.

During the hearing, the defence lawyers and head of the prosecution team Akram Sheikh exchanged harsh words and abused each other. Gen Musharraf’s counsel Ahmed Raza Kasuri called Advocate Akram a ‘secretary to Nawaz Sharif’ and the latter called the former ‘prosecutor of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’.

The defence lawyers also objected to the composition of the special court, but in a rejoinder from the judges they slightly retreated.

Anwar Mansoor Khan, another counsel for Gen Musharraf, said that although Justice Arab had not taken oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) of November 2007, he disqualified Gen Musharraf from contesting elections.

“My Lord did not take oath under the PCO because it was in your lordship’s mind that it was an unconstitutional act,” he said, adding that though the process could not be changed, the judge could not be impartial in such situation.

The counsel said that Justice Yawar Ali, another member of the court, was a nephew of Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday who had issued a verdict in favour of the chief justice in 2007. “Former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry made him a judge despite the fact that the Lahore High Court chief justice did not recommend him because he wanted to pay back to Justice Ramday for restoring him.”

Justice Yawar reminded the counsel that the LHC chief justice had not only recommended his name but also forwarded some observations to the Judicial Commission.

When Advocate Mansoor turned to the third member of the special court, Justice Tahira Safdar, she asked him whether he had gone through her service record.

The counsel replied in the negative, but said her father was active in the movement for restoration of the judiciary and died during a pro-Justice Chaudhry rally in 2007.

Correcting him, Justice Tahira said her father died in 1981 and she had been in the Balochistan Judicial Service since 1982.

Advocate Mansoor alleged that the prime minister and the former chief justice were inimical to Gen Musharraf because he had carried out a coup against Nawaz Sharif in October 1999 and suspended Justice Chaudhry in March 2007.

He said the special court had been constituted in haste and in violation of rules, alleging that Mr Sharif and Justice Chaudhry had misused the law and because of that he challenged the establishment of the court and its members. “Had such notification not been issued I would be the last person to criticise judges,” the counsel said.

Advocate Kasuri informed the court that Gen Musharraf was ready to attend the proceedings, but when he was about to leave his farmhouse security officials found explosives near his residence.

When the court asked the prosecution whether Gen Musharraf appeared before any court in the recent past, Advocate Akram said the former president had appeared before lower courts as well as the Islamabad High Court a number of times after his return in March.

Advocate Kasuri said his client was facing serious threats and his life was in danger. He warned that if anything happened to Gen Musharraf during his travel to or from the court, the judges would be held responsible.

“Don’t try to threaten us,” Justice Arab told the counsel. He said the court could not stop working because of security threats. Courts heard cases even during times of war, he added.

The inspector general of Islamabad police briefed the court on security arrangements for Gen Musharraf and said that about 1,000 policemen had been deployed on the route from his Chak Shahzad residence to the special court. Officials of traffic police, bomb disposal squad and special branch were also deployed at different locations to ensure safety of Gen Musharraf.