ISLAMABAD: Former Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar filed on Wednesday a petition before the Islamabad High Court (IHC), challenging a special court order implicating him as one of retired General Pervez Musharraf’s co-accused in the high treason case.

Filed by his counsel Iftikhar Gillani, this is the third petition filed before the IHC challenging the Nov 21 special court order. The court had, on an application moved by Gen Musharraf’s legal team, asked the federal government to including his abettors – former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, former law minister Zahid Hamid and the former chief justice – as co-accused in the treason case.

Read: Special court partially okays trial of Musharraf's abettors

Besides Mr Hamid and Mr Dogar, a former president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association’s Rawalpindi chapter has also challenged the order in the IHC.

But Barrister Wasim Sajjad, counsel for the former PM, told Dawn that he was examining the order and would decide whether to file an application with the IHC or challenge it before the Supreme Court.

Argues SC ruling that sent him home never blamed him for Nov 3 emergency

Unlike Mr Hamid’s petition, which contended that implicating the accused was the prerogative of the federal government, Justice Dogar’s petition relies upon the Supreme Court judgment, passed in the Sindh High Court Bar Association case.

In the petition, Justice Dogar insisted that he had no role in the imposition of emergency on Nov 3, 2007.

In the matter of the Sindh High Court Bar Association, the apex court had declared the provisional constitutional order (PCO) unconstitutional and, in the aftermath of the judgment, about 100 judges who had taken oath under the PCO were sent home.

Also read: Musharraf’s ‘abettors’

The petition stated that the Supreme Court, in its judgment, never mentioned that Justice Dogar or other PCO judges had any role in the imposition of emergency on Nov 3.

It pointed out that during the hearing of a petition seeking the trial of Gen Musharraf for treason, after the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s tenure ended, the attorney general during the interim government’s time in power had noted that “no high treason was committed”.

Also read| SC hands out clean chit to Musharraf : •Emergency, PCO validated •Deposed judges criticised

The petition also said that the Nawaz Sharif government had given an undertaking to the Supreme Court that it would be filing a complaint in high treason case.

Justice Dogar pointed out that at no stage did the apex court point a finger at him for the imposition of emergency, but it was the special court, which “has assumed a suo moto jurisdiction, which is not conferred on it, by adding the name of petitioner as a co-accused”.

The petitioner claimed that the order of the special court is against the spirit of Article 10-a (fair trial) of the Constitution.

Also read: Dogar to challenge reinstatement of Justice Iftikhar

In his petition, Justice Dogar requested the IHC to set aside the Nov 21 special court order.

The IHC’s registrar office, however, raised objections on the petition, saying that the IHC lacked jurisdiction to hear the petition. But an IHC single bench would hear the objections against the petition on Thursday.

The registrar office raised similar objections on earlier petitions filed by Mr Asif and Mr Hamid. The court has sought comments from the attorney general to decide the maintainability of these petitions.

Published in Dawn December 11th , 2014