Raza Bashir Advocate contended that he has received the notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice for his appointment as defence counsel that day (Wednesday) in the court, adding he has not received the copies of the entire record of court proceedings, including Supreme Court's judgments and the Special Court's orders. The Special Court on August 22 had appointed Advocate Raza Bashir out of a list of 14 lawyers which the Ministry of Law and Justice submitted before the court. The court had directed registrar Special Court to provide the entire record of the case to Raza Bashir after the issuance of the formal notification by Law Ministry within three days so that he could prepare the case.
During the course of proceedings, the registrar, on the direction of the bench, handed over a copy of entire record to the defence counsel in the court in the presence of all. Raza sought some time for preparation. The court accepting his plea adjourned the case until September 24. Justice Akbar remarked that both the prosecution and the defence sides should know how this case would proceed further as all the proceedings have been completed and now only the statement of Pervez Musharraf under section 342 of CrPC has to be recorded.
The acting secretary Ministry of Law and Justice on the last hearing had submitted a list of 14 lawyers and said 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 purportedly 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 Rs 1.9 million. All these lawyers also reportedly demanded TA/DA of Rs 50,000 per hearing. Likewise, Abdul Salam Awan purportedly demanded a 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. However, the court had appointed Raza Bashir to represent Musharraf in high treason case.