The court directed the registrar office to supply entire record of the case to the counsel after issuance of the formal notification within three days so that he could prepare the case, and adjourned the hearing until 28th August. Earlier, acting secretary Ministry of Law and Justice submitted the list of 14 lawyers and informed that they had written letters to 14 lawyers on 6th August, but out of the total 11 have responded and demanded fee along with TA/DA, while replies of three advocates are awaited.
According to the list, Akhtar Shah demanded Rs 2 to 2.5 million, Adnan Iqbal, Rs 1.5 million, Aamir Aziz Ansari, Rs 1.5 million, Saadia Shaheen, Rs 1.5 million, Irum Shaheen, Rs 1.5 million, and Rana Muhammad Ahsan demanded Rs 1.9 million. All these lawyers also demanded TA/DA of Rs 50,000 per hearing. Likewise, Abdul Salam Awan demanded Rs 2 million fee along with TA/DA of Rs 50,000 per hearing, Ch Attique-uz-Zaman demanded Rs 1.8 million and TA/DA of Rs 50,000 per hearing, Sajjad Haider Malik and Aiyan Tariq Bhutta demanded Rs 2.5 million and Rs 3.5 million respectively along with TA/DA of Rs 50,000 per hearing, and Raza Bashir demanded Rs 1.5 million and TA/DA of Rs 30,000 per hearing. However the reply of Nasir Mahboob Tiwana, Jawwad Khaldoon Sheikh and Khawar Amir Bukhari are awaited.
The court in the last month had granted four weeks more to the federal government to finalise the panel of lawyers. Ministry of Law and Justice on June 27, 2019 had submitted names of six lawyers, including Barrister Ali Zafar, former law minister, Raja Amir Abbas, ex-Additional Prosecutor General NAB, Shah Khawar, former additional judge of the Lahore High Court, Riaz Hanif Rahi, who had filed a petition against Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Ishfaq Shah and Tahir Malik. However, they did not respond to the government's request and, therefore, a new list was submitted.
The special court on June 12 in view of the Supreme Court's order dated April 1, 2019, restrained Advocate Salman Safdar from defending former President General Pervez Musharraf (retd) and directed Ministry of Law and Justice to submit a list of lawyers so it could appoint one out of that to defend the ex-army chief.
The Supreme Court on April 1, 2019 ordered that being a fugitive from the law, the accused [Musharraf] has lost his right to audience as per the apex court judgements. The accused has also lost the right to have an advocate appointed to defend him unless and until the accused surrenders before the court.
The Supreme Court said if Musharraf voluntarily chooses not to appear or join the proceeding, he would lose his right to an explanation under Section 342 of CrPC. Therefore it had declared that the Special Court shall proceed with the trial.
The special court, therefore, told Salman Safdar Advocate that neither could he represent Musharraf nor could defend him with the exception the accused appears and surrenders himself before the court.