The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court against a decision by the Lahore High Court (LHC) to term the formation of a special court to try Gen (retd) Musharraf for high treason as unconstitutional. The high court bypassed constitutional limits in the case, the petition submitted in the Supreme Court said. The ruling of January 13 should be nullified, stated the petition, requesting the apex court to declare the LHC’s decision unconstitutional. The petition asked that Musharraf, the president of Pakistan, secretary of law and justice, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and the special court be made a party to the petition. The PBC has filed the case on behalf of its vice-chairperson Abid Saqi.
The LHC, on January 13, had termed ‘unconstitutional’ the formation of a special court to try the former military dictator.
It ruled that the amended Article 6 of the Constitution, under which Musharraf had been found guilty, could not be applied in the case ‘ex post facto’ (retrospectively).
Article 6 of the Constitution was modified through the 18th Amendment in 2010, while the case against Musharraf concerned events that happened before that.
The decision came in response to a petition filed by Musharraf challenging the formation of the special court for the high treason case against him. The former president had challenged not only the conviction but also the formation of the special court that handed him the death penalty for high treason, as well as the complaint filed against him by the government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif that resulted Musharraf being tried for the offence.
