Pak court adjourns petition against Musharraf till 20th April

Lahore: A Pakistani court has adjourned till 20th April the hearing of a petition seeking direction to authorities to register a case of high treason against former President Pervez Musharraf for violating the Constitution. A three-judge bench of the Lahore High Court headed by Chief Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed was hearing the petition yesterday filed by lawyer Ilamuddin Ghazi. Earlier, Deputy Attorney General Aazar Latif appeared before the bench and sought time to file the government’s reply in the matter. [caption id=“attachment_268732” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”]  [/caption] The bench expressed its annoyance at the government’s failure to submit a reply and adjourned the case while directing Latif to file a response before the next date of hearing. Ghazi had levelled 15 allegations against the 68-year-old former military ruler, including the claim that he dissolved an elected parliament without “any cogent reason just to save his own skin”. He alleged that Musharraf joined the US in the war on terror without the nation’s consent and handed over innocent citizens to American authorities.    He requested the court to direct the federal government to file a case of high treason against the former President. In a separate development, the same bench adjourned till 20th the hearing of another petition seeking directions to the government to declare all military dictators as traitors for subverting the Constitution. Musharraf has been living in self-exile in Dubai and London since he left Pakistan in early 2009. PTI