ISLAMABAD: Former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf may not appear before the special court on Monday for his treason trial because of illness.

“Pervez Musharraf cannot appear before the special court because he is not well,” his lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri told Dawn on Sunday.

He said he was trying to get the medical report of Gen Musharraf to submit it to the court. “If we do not get the report, we will verbally request the court to exempt our client from personal appearance till his recovery.”

He said Gen Musharraf was not a common man. Everybody knew that he was under treatment, so there was no question of his personal appearance in the court on Monday.

The former president was taken to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) on Jan 2 after he felt pain in his chest when going to the court.

Then the court exempted him from personal appearance and fixed Monday as the next hearing.

Mr Kasuri said Gen Musharraf’s medical reports had been sent to experts in Britain to seek their advice whether he should be treated in Pakistan or taken abroad.

According to media reports, the report of experts had been received. “A panel of doctors at the AFIC will review it on Sunday and decide what has to be done.” Mr Kasuri said he was not aware of the media reports and the decision of AFIC doctors.

The court had ordered Gen Musharraf on Jan 1 to appear before it the following day and warned of a ruling if he did not comply.

Gen Musharraf’s legal team had filed a plea in the court to exempt him from personal appearance because of threats to his life as bombs were found near his farmhouse in Chak Shahzad, which has been declared a sub-jail.

Gen Musharraf is being prosecuted under Article 6 for imposing state of emergency in the country on Nov 3, 2007, and for detaining members of the superior judiciary.

Barrister Saif, another counsel of Gen Musharraf, said his client was being treated in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital because his condition continued to be serious.

AFP adds: Gen Musharraf’s team says the treason allegations are politically motivated and his lawyers have challenged the authority of the three-judge tribunal.

The ex-dictator’s sudden health scare was met with scepticism from some observers and feverish media speculation that his departure from Pakistan on medical grounds – possibly to either Saudi Arabia or the UAE – could be imminent.

Siddiq-ul-Farooq, a spokesman for the PML-N denied a deal was in the offing, but added the government would follow the court’s ruling.

“We neither wish to settle scores nor give any undue concession,” he told AFP.

“No foreign pressure will be entertained: let the law take its course.

“If the court allows Musharraf to travel abroad for medical reasons then we will not try to stop it.”