ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: The Ministry of Law and Justice has sought Rs3.1 million from the finance division as initial expenses for the special court set up to try former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf for high treason, sources in the law ministry told Dawn.

The trial of the former army chief, the first in the country’s history, relates to imposition of emergency rule by him on Nov 3, 2007.

Sources said that a request for release of the amount had been forwarded to the finance division last week, but a reply was still awaited.

According to the sources, the ministry required Rs3.1 million for providing logistical support to judges of the special court and for day-to-day matter of the court.

The sources said the law ministry would assign the responsibility of providing logistical support to the three-member court comprising Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, Justice Tahira Safdar of Balochistan High Court and Justice Yawar Ali of the Lahore High Court.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved names of the judges last week.

According to a notification issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Justice Faisal Arab will head the special court, being the senior-most judge of the court which will hear the case at the Federal Shariat Court in Islamabad.

The sources said that logistical support for the judges included air travel, vehicles, accommodation and other expenses.

After the receipt of the amount, the equipment required for the trial would be installed in the court room.

The sources said that the amount of Rs3.1 million was the initial fund and it did not include the fee for the special prosecutor because that would be taken care of by the interior ministry.

A senior official of the finance ministry confirmed that the request had been received from the law ministry for the supplementary grant and the matter was in process.

He said the request had been forwarded to the financial adviser and after his approval it be would sent to additional secretary expenditure of the finance division.

A summary in this regard would then be sent to the secretary of finance and after his endorsement it will be submitted to the finance minister.