ISLAMABAD: The Special Court seized with treason trial of former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf directed the government on Friday to arrest and produce him if he refused to appear before it on March 31 on his own.

The three-judge court headed by Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court was to indict the former army chief on Friday for imposing emergency in 2007, but his lawyers said he could not appear because of threats to his life.

The presence of the accused, the court observed, was required for proceeding with the case because a criminal case could not be kept dormant when an accused was available to stand trial. It ordered that the IG Islamabad or any other police officer designated by him should serve non-bailable arrest warrants on Gen Musharraf.

“It is further directed that the warrants be executed early in the morning of March 31 if the accused refuses to appear before this court on his own volition.”

Mohammad Akram Sheikh, head of the prosecution team, recalled that Friday was 91st day since the court commenced the high treason trial. He said the case was costing the national exchequer heavily, adding that during 18 proceedings the expenditure on security deployment exceeded Rs200 million.

“Musharraf has escaped indictment on eight occasions and the court may issue non-bailable warrants to ensure his presence for framing charges against him.” he said. “I have already offered that the accused may be exempted from day-to-day appearance once the court indicts him in the treason case.”

Akram Sheikh claimed that security officials deployed with the cavalcade of Gen Musharraf had been selected by the former president himself. The federal government, however, replaced the inner cordon of Gen Musharraf after receiving the March 10 threat alert from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) which warned that the former president might be attacked by Al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

“If Musharraf is not satisfied with the security arrangements he himself has chosen, his custody be handed over to us and the federal government will arrange his trial at any secure jail of his choice whether in Attock, Adiyala or Hyderabad,” he suggested.

Mr Sheikh also proposed indictment of Gen Musharraf through his counsel in which the physical presence of the accused was not required. “The charges may be read out to the counsel who may plead guilty or not guilty on behalf of the accused so that the trial may proceed”.

He accused Gen Musharraf of deliberately avoiding to appear before the court to face indictment.

Anwar Mansoor Khan, counsel for Gen Musharraf, contended that his client did not appear before the court because of security concerns. He rejected the proposal to indict Gen Musharraf through counsel and said such a procedure was alien to the criminal law. The charges had to be read out in the presence of the accused, he argued.

The court directed the interior secretary to “ensure that all necessary measures for safe journey of the accused to and from the court are taken in the light of threats disclosed in the March 10 letter of the Ministry of Interior”.

The secretary is required to be present in the court on March 31 when the charges will be framed against Gen Musharraf.