Islamabad: The trial of former president General (retired) Pervez Musharraf in a treason case is unlikely to resume anytime soon. It has been on hold for about a year.
The federal government has moved a petition seeking review by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) of its order, by which it set aside a November 2014 decision of the special court handling the trial.
A year ago, the special court had ordered reinvestigation into the case to ascertain the role of three alleged abettors of Musharraf in imposing a state of emergency in 2007 in his dual capacity as army chief.
But the three — former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, ex-chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar and former minister Zahid Hamid — challenged the order at the IHC, leading to break in trial proceedings.
In the review petition, filed on Saturday, the government said it had expressed willingness to re-investigate.
The IHC, however, took the government’s willingness as an admission that the earlier probe was defective, the petition said.
The government had agreed to re-investigate in good faith and in the interest of justice to rectify “legal flaws” in the special court order that directed the government to nominate the three alleged abettors as co-accused, the petition said.
The review petition has been fixed for hearing by a division bench of the IHC on Tuesday.
Advocate Akram Sheikh, lead prosecutor in the treason case, has told the court that the government would finalise the investigation team and the treason probe would start after the IHC disposes of the review petition.
Musharraf, who is living in Karachi, also faces some other cases related to his rule. His name is on a government list barring him from leaving the country.
