ISLAMABAD: The special court seized with the high treason trial of former president retired General Pervez Musharraf has rejected the excuse of his absence on medical grounds and summoned him on Jan 16 for indictment.

“It is clear that the accused has failed to obey and comply with the order of this court,” the three-judge court said in an order on Thursday. The court comprises 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 court warned that it would issue an order against the former army chief if he failed to appear before it on Jan 16.

“The medical report does not reflect that the accused (Gen Musharraf) suffered a heart attack or that he is ailing to an extent that he is unable to appear before the court,” the order said, adding: “In the medical report it is stated that the accused reported discomfort in his chest and left arm. This could have been taken to be a heart attack or angina pain or any other kind of heart ailment, but the same turned out to be a false alarm as the medical report does not disclose that after examination by the doctors the discomfort in the chest or left arm felt by the accused was due to any heart ailment.”

The order said the absence of the accused on three previous dates had been condoned solely on the ground that he was hospitalised. This was done in spite of the fact that neither any application for exemption from appearance was made nor was it even verbally requested on behalf of the accused.

This court, the order said, was constrained to call for the medical report of the accused from the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC). “The medical report does not suggest that the accused in his present state of health is unable to attend the court nor any material was placed on record to justify his inability to appear,” it added.

Sharifuddin Pirzada, counsel for Gen Musharraf, said his client was suffering from heart ailment and an angiography had been advised. He said that to undergo such medical procedure it was quite possible that an open heart surgery might be required.

The counsel advised the court not to take ailment of Gen Musharraf lightly, recalling that in 1993, the then army chief, Gen Asif Nawaz Janjua, died of a sudden heart attack. He argued that it was Pervez Musharraf’s right to seek the best possible treatment “if it means leaving (the country) for abroad”.

Mohammad Akram Sheikh, head of the prosecution team, recalled that Gen Musharraf had in 2002 passed a law barring government functionaries from going abroad for cardiac treatment and issued a directive that heart treatment be provided within the country. Pakistani institutes provided world class health facilities and Gen Musharraf need not go to any other country, he said.

Advocate Sheikh alleged that the former military ruler had gone to the AFIC in a pre-planned manner to avoid court appearance. On Dec 24 and Jan 1 Gen Musharraf was not suffering from any ailment, but even then he did not attend the court proceedings.

He said that despite having been in the best hospital for several days, the accused did not opt to undergo an angiography, as recommended by the medical report.

Akram Sheikh argued that in any case “the presence of the accused is required on a date of hearing which may be for only an hour in order to read out the charge, record his plea and thereafter the proceedings can take place in his absence through his counsel”.

The court will announce on Friday its verdict on the applicability of the criminal procedure code (CrPC) in the high treason trial.