A special court had accused Musharraf of high treason in March 2014.
A petition filed by Taufeeq Asif who is the prosecution lawyer, was heard by a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa.
Taufeeq stated that the proceeding of the treason case was being heard by the special court in 2014. The case is still not proceeding due to the absence of former President Musharraf, who hasn’t returned to the country since 2016, he added.
If the special court failed to record the statement of the former president, then the top court would get involved in the matter, said the Supreme Court in a previous hearing.
Musharraf would lose the right to record the statement under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedures (CrPC), which would cause the court to favour the prosecution, if he did not appear before the court on May 2. However if he appears on the given time all the facilities will be provided.
The defence lawyer, Salman Safdar had said in the previous hearing that the former president wanted to appear in court on May 13.
On hearing Salman, a three-member bench headed by Justice Tahira Safdar ordered Musharraf to appear in court before Ramadan.
“If a suspect is absent on purpose, any action that follows will not be looked at in the category of an absence”, said Justice Khosa today.
Salman said that he cannot personally guarantee the above but is sure that Musharraf wanted to come for hearing. May 13 had been given as the date of Musharraf return, he added.
Justice Khosa said, “high treason is not an average crime”, a trial becomes unconstitutional in the absence of a suspect. He cannot be allowed to take advantage but if a suspect doesn’t appear on purpose.
Musharraf was present in the court when he had been inducted. The case was not taking place in the absence of the former president, the prosecutor said. He added that the former president had given assurances of appearing before the court when he was summoned.
Due to medical treatment, Musharraf has not been able to appear before the court since 2016. He is known to be suffering from a rare disease and is admitted to a hospital in Dubai due to a reaction of disease.
