Ex-Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf filed a petition with the Lahore High Court on Friday, challenging the verdict by a special court in the high treason case against him for suspending the Constitution on November 3, 2007.

On December 17, Musharraf was sentenced to death by a Pakistan court.

Advertisement

The verdict marked the first time in Pakistan’s history that a military chief was declared guilty of high treason and handed a death sentence.

The 86 page-long petition, filed by Advocate Azhar Siddique on Musharraf’s behalf, named the federal government and others as respondents.

The petition also challenged the verdict’s graphic paragraph 66 which read: “We direct the law enforcement agencies to strive their level best to apprehend the fugitive/convict (Musharraf) and to ensure that the punishment is inflicted as per law and if found dead, his corpse be dragged to the D-Chowk (in front of the Parliament House), and be hanged for three days”.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) took up Musharraf’s petition against the special court hearing the high treason case against him as well as his civil miscellaneous application that urged the high court to halt the treason proceedings.

On Saturday, Musharraf filed an application in the Lahore High Court (LHC), urging it to stay the proceedings pending before a special court in Islamabad.

Earlier in the month, Musharraf was admitted to hospital in Dubai after he complained of “heart and blood pressure-related complications”. In May this year, Musharraf’s health deteriorated and was rushed to a hospital in Dubai.

In November, a special court in Islamabad reserved its verdict in the high treason case involving Musharraf.

In October, the Islamabad High Court had dismissed a petition that sought deletion of terrorism charges against the former president and transfer of the judges, detention case from the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATS) to the sessions court.

The former President has been seeking deletion of terrorism charges and subsequent transfer of his case from the ATC to the sessions court on the ground that initially the FIR was registered under the Pakistan Penal Code against him in connection with the detention of 60 judges of the superior judiciary after the imposition of emergency on November 3, 2007.

Musharraf was declared a proclaimed offender by a special court in the high treason case.

(With inputs from agency)