ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan is hearing the identical petitions seeking high treason trial of former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf on Friday, Geo News reported.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and comprising Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, is hearing the case.

The SC on Thursday observed that the apex court judges were not afraid of the threats hurled from different quarters that the treason trial of former president would open a Pandora’s box as they were well aware of the consequences.

The apex court said that the order in the instant matter would be announced later. The court noted that due process of law would be ensured in the case as all the citizens are equal in the eyes of the law.

Raja Ibrahim Satti, the counsel for Pervez Musharraf, read out the reply of his client over the stance of the government in the instant case. He said there should be no impression at all that the Supreme Court was either a complainant or interested in the investigation or trial under the high treason act or was monitoring and supervising the investigation as well as the trial, as that would be in violation of the fundamental rights, particularly of Article 10-A of the Constitution.

Pervez Musharraf contended that he was not afraid of a trial under the high treason act provided he got a fair trial by an impartial tribunal without any foreign interference and all the legal and factual pleas, defences and remedies in accordance with the law were available to him.

The court, after hearing the reply of Pervez Musharraf, observed that due process of law would be ensured in the instant case. “We are acting according to the course of law but not in retaliation,” Justice Ejaz Afzal remarked.

Justice Khilji Arif Hussain observed that law is equal for all citizens of this country. During the hearing, the court rejected the plea of Hamid Khan, the counsel for one of the petitioners, seeking order for the formal arrest of Pervez Musharraf, citing that no formal charges had been put before it against the former president.

Earlier, Attorney General Munir A Malik told the court that a timeline would be set for the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team tasked to conduct an inquiry into the acts of the former military ruler that led to the imposition of emergency on November 3, 2007. He also presented a directive to form an investigation team for initiating the treason trial against Musharraf. He told the court that a commission would be formed to ascertain transparency during the investigation and for the purpose of monitoring. He further apprised the bench that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had the authority to initiate a probe against Pervez Musharraf for the high treason act.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had ordered the interior secretary to form an investigation team that would conduct an inquiry into Pervez Musharraf’s November 3, 2007 acts. The AG said a special court would be set up soon after the team concluded the probe.

It may be mentioned that a four-member FIA committee had been constituted to interrogate Pervez Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution.

The committee comprises two additional director generals and two directors. They are Additional DGs FIA Khalid Qureshi and Azam Khan and directors Hussain Asghar and Maqsood-ul-Hassan.The committee will present its report in the shortest period of time.