A special court, trying former army chief and President Pervez Musharraf for treason, on Tuesday turned down the plea of federation's counsel to resume the proceedings of the case sans impleading three civilians. A three-member special court led by Justice Faisal Arab and comprising Justice Syeda Tahira Safdar and Justice Yawar Ali had ruled in November 21, 2014 through issuing directives to federal government to include the names of former premier Shaukat Aziz, former Supreme Court chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and a former law minister Zahid Hamid as abettors in Musharraf's act of imposing emergency in November 2007.
However, on October 19, 2015, Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its judgement while hearing a petition filed by the trio, who had challenged the special court's order. Instead of a three-member, a two-judge bench of the special court comprising Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Yawar Ali resumed the hearing of the matter on Tuesday.
Appearing before the bench, Faisal Hussain Chaudhry, the counsel for Pervez Musharraf, filed an application to relinquish surety bonds of Rs 2.5 million which he had filed in pursuance of the court's earlier order of January 31,2014 with a title deed of a house owned by a former army general Rashid Qureshi in Sector E-11, Islamabad.
Musharraf' lawyer urged the court to relinquish the surety bond on grounds that the bonds were sought by the court to ensure appearance of Musharraf, saying his client appeared before the court on February 18, 2014, so no more surety was required. "The bail bond furnished for the appearance could have been discharged on the day the accused furnished his appearance - therefore this court deemed it appropriate not to discharge the bail bond submitted by the applicant and further extended it to the date fixed to read formal charge upon him [Musharraf] - the command of this court was taken with obeisance," Chaudhry contended.
He requested the court to relinquish the bail bond subject to furnishing of fresh surety as per the satisfaction of the court, if required, as Qureshi requires his house title deed back for personal needs. Later, Chaudhry withdrew the application when the bench asked him to furnish a separate application to take the surety bond back, saying if the current application is accepted, his client may be apprehended.
Appearing on behalf of federation, Dr Tariq Hassan suggested that trial can proceed against the accused because the IHC has not granted stay order in the matter. He further said the federal government was willing to investigate aiders and abettors in the case.
However, the court said that it will not incline to reopen the same issue that has been put to rest earlier in the current matter. The bench said that in view of the fact that the judgement of the IHC is awaited, hearing of the case is adjourned till November 27.
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