Musharraf's conviction: Formation of special court not approved by Cabinet, LHC told

The special trial court that has convicted former president Gen Pervez Musharraf (retired) for high treason had not been approved by the federal cabinet.

This was told to a full bench of the Lahore High Court by a law officer through petitions of Musharraf challenging his conviction, formation of the special court and filing of the complaint by the government.

The bench observed that it could not question the basis of the trial court's verdict, however, it could see whether the proceedings initiated by it were in accordance with law, and rose for Friday (today).

The law officer said the record had only of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif addressing interior ministry for the initiation of an inquiry against Musharraf on charge of high treason.

"There had been no approval from federal cabinet for filing of a complaint," the federal law officer explained to the bench.

"Even the letter sent by the then Prime Minister had no approval from the cabinet," he said while responding to another query by the bench.

The law officer stated that the special court was established on November 18, 2013 while the record did not show any meeting of the cabinet on the subject. He said the complaint against Musharraf was filed on Dec 11, 2013.

He said, the inquiry was held by Federal Investigation Agency and was subsequently presented before the trial court. He pointed out that the agency in its report termed the acts of Musharraf unconstitutional. However, he said, the trial court did not discuss the report in the charges framed against the former president.

A legal panel representing Musharraf also argued that the declaration of state of emergency did not fall within the definition of treason. Panel's head Khwaja Tariq Rahim said the imposition of emergency had also not been declared treason in the case of former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar.

He argued that Article 6 of the Constitution, which deals with offence of high treason, had been amended through the 18th Amendment and implemented retrospectively against Musharraf.

Advocate Azhar, another counsel for Musharraf, stated that the president of the special trial court also implemented the law retrospectively while another member of the court dissented to this interpretation.

To a court's query, the law officer said under section 342 of Cr.P.C. the trial proceedings could not be concluded without recording the statement of the accused. The special court had handed down death penalty to Musharraf with a two to one majority.