ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected on Wednesday a petition against the formation of a special court for the treason trial of former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The petition filed by a local lawyer challenged the process of selection of the judges and the subsequent notification about formation of the special court issued by the law ministry on Nov 20.

The petitioner said that under the High Treason Act, selection of judges for the special court was the prerogative of the federal government.

But in the present case, it sent names of five judges to Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who selected three judges — Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, Justice Tahira Safdar of the Balochistan High Court and Justice Yawar Ali of the Lahore High Court.

The IHC registrar office had earlier raised objections to the petition, saying that the relevant forum for challenging the constitution of the special court was the Supreme Court and that the petitioner was not an aggrieved person.

On Wednesday, the petitioner appeared before Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi to seek removal of the objections.

After a brief hearing the judge held that the IHC registrar office had rightly raised the objections and did not admit the petition for regular hearing.