Special court to announce verdict in Musharraf treason case on December 17

• The special court was supposed to announce its verdict today.
• The bench said this was the last time it was adjourning the case proceedings.

A special court has said that it will announce verdict on treason case against former President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on December 17.

Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth headed a three-member bench of the special court on Thursday. A new prosecution team for the government, in which Advocate Ali Zia Bajwa and Munir Bhatti were appointed, appeared before the court.

Bajwa informed the court that he and Bhatti both received the notification of their appointment on Wednesday and also received a document of 3,000 pages, local media reported. He told the bench that he needed time to go through the document as he did not want to depend on the arguments of the previous prosecution team.

He assured the bench that he would not waste the court's time and requested it to grant him some days. Accepting the advocate's request the bench adjourned the proceedings till December 17, saying that they would hear arguments of the new prosecution team in the next hearing and announce the verdict.

The bench also ruled that this would be the last time the court was adjourning the proceedinsg. During the last hearing, the special court had said that it would hold hearings on the treason case on daily basis. It had also said that it would announce its verdict in the case today.

The special court has been hearing the case of imposition of extra-constitutional emergency by Musharraf in 2007. The treason case has been pending since December 2013. Back in 2014, Musharraf was indicted by the special court when he appeared and rejected all charges against him.

He then left the country in 2016 for medical treatment, after the Supreme Court removed his name from the Exit Control List.