"The court and the entire nation know that Pervez Musharraf is ill...he is not a common man, the entire world knows him, he is ill and will not appear in the court tomorrow (Monday)," Kasuri told reporters categorically. To a question about submitting his medical report to the special bench, the counsel said if they did not receive the [medical] reports, they would verbally request the court to grant him exemption from appearing before the bench due to ill health.
However, he said that they were trying their level best to get the medical reports on the ill health of the former president, which would be submitted before the court. "The doctors haven't issued the reports yet, but we'll definitely try to get the reports," he added.
On Wednesday, the court, hearing a high treason case against the former president, warned that it could issue a warrant for his arrest if he again failed to appear before it on Thursday, after Musharraf did not show up for the second time in 10 days before the court.
But the former chief of army staff was moved to Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) on Thursday ahead of his appearance in the special court after he suffered a heart problem. He was then hospitalised at the AFIC. He may be shifted abroad for treatment. Musharraf's name still figures on the list of those people who cannot go abroad without the government's permission. A court had already turned down his request to remove his name from the Exit Control List and advised him to approach the government.
However, following his heart problem on Thursday, his wife Sehba Musharraf had also submitted an application to federal interior ministry to remove his spouse's name from the ECL citing deteriorating health conditions, which is yet to be approved by a flamboyant interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan - a staunch critic of Musharraf.
The three-member special court entrusted to hear the treason case against Gen Musharraf (Retd) will resume the hearing today (Monday) in the federal capital.
AFP adds: The ex-dictator spent his fourth day in the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi, on Sunday. The court had adjourned its proceedings Thursday and summoned Musharraf to appear on Monday, but Kasuri said he hoped it would now "exempt his personal presence". "The court is not making a special concession to Musharraf. It is according to the law. Human life is over and above justice," Kasuri added. Doctors treating Musharraf had sent his medical reports to experts in Britain, Kasuri told AFP on Saturday, to determine his further treatment at home or abroad.
The ex-dictator's sudden health scare was met with scepticism from some observers and feverish media speculation that his departure from Pakistan on medical grounds - possibly to either Saudi Arabia or the UAE - could be imminent.
Some analysts believe such a move is necessary to head off a potentially destabilising clash between the government and the all-powerful military.
Siddiq-ul-Farooq, a spokesman for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Noon (PML-N) denied a deal was in the offing but added the government would follow the court's ruling. "We neither wish to settle scores nor give any undue concession," he told AFP. "No foreign pressure will be entertained: let the law take its course. "If the court allows Musharraf to travel abroad for medical reasons then we will not try to stop it."
Aside from the treason allegations, Musharraf also faces trial over the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the death of a rebel leader, a deadly raid on a radical mosque and the detention of judges.