ISLAMABAD The Supreme Court will take up on Wednesday the judges' case without former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf who has been invited to defend his extra-constitutional actions, either in person or through a representative.
'We have decided not to represent Gen (retd) Musharraf unless the notice issued by the court in his name is served' and no one from his side would appear in the court on Wednesday, former caretaker minister Advocate Mohammad Ali Saif told Dawn.
The name of Advocate Saif, who regularly appears in TV talk shows to defend Gen (retd) Musharraf, was being tipped to be in the panel of counsel formed to defend him.
The lawyer said no one would represent the former general, who was in the United Kingdom, until he received the court notice.
He said the court should resort to the legal ways available for serving notices in other countries.
Senior counsel Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, who is acting as the leading legal aide to Gen (retd) Musharraf and has held a long session with him, is still in the UK.
Former attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum was consulted by Advocate Pirzada but he did not appear to be interested at present to be in the team. He said he wanted to avoid getting involved in controversies that were bound to emerge during the hearing.
The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry includes Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Tassaduq Husain Jillani, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Chaudhry Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Ghulam Rabbani, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmani, Justice Mohammad Sair Ali, Justice Mahmood Akhtar Shahid Siddiqui and Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja.
While hearing the case of two Sindh High Court judges and the Nadeem Ahmed case last week, the bench had shown interest in revisiting the Tikka Iqbal Mohammad case and the entire gamut of issues relating to imposition of 'emergency' by inviting Gen (retd) Musharraf to defend his unconstitutional actions.
