A special court trying former President Pervez Musharraf on high treason charges has refused to hear his counsel Dr Faroogh Nasim's arguments on grounds that Nasim' client has been declared an absconder. Resuming the hearing of the matter on Friday, a three-member special bench led by Justice Yahya Afridi asked the Federation to provide fresh details about Musharraf's assets and properties transferred to his relatives after 2008 in order to ascertain the factual status of properties in or outside Pakistan.

During the course of proceedings, a lawyer, Akhtar Shah, submitted an application on behalf of Musharraf with a plea to allow his client to return to the country, seeking the court's directives to the government to provide foolproof security to his client so that he could appear before the court.

To which, the bench asked prosecutor Akram Sheikh to submit a written response over the petition regarding the former President's security. The court also directed the Interior Ministry to re-verify Musharraf's properties and provide details of his current assets and bank transactions after 2008. On March 18, 2016, Pervez Musharraf flew to Dubai for medical treatment shortly after his name was removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) on Supreme Court's directives.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017