ISLAMABAD: The federal government has filed a petition before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking a review of the order passed in the high treason case against former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Disposing of the petition filed by cabinet minister Zahid Hamid, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and former chief justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, an IHC division bench had on Nov 10 ordered a re-investigation into the treason case to ascertain the role of all Gen Musharraf’s aiders and abettors.

Following the IHC order, the special court seized with treason trial directed the government on Friday to submit the re-investigation report by Dec 17.

Lead prosecutor Akram Sheikh had told the special court that the federal government was willing to re-investigate the case, but it also planned to file a petition seeking a review of the Nov 10 IHC order. According to Mr Sheikh, the government wanted clarity regarding some ambiguity in the order.

In the review petition, filed by additional attorney general (AAG) Afnan Karim Kundi on Saturday, the federal government stated that it had expressed willingness to re-investigate the case. The IHC, however, took the government’s willingness to re-investigate as an admission that the earlier investigation was defective, the petition said.

‘Willingness to reinvestigate’ misinterpreted as admission of shoddy work, claims plea

According to the petition, the federal government had agreed to re-investigate the matter in good faith and in the interest of justice to rectify ‘legal flaws’ in the order of the special court, which directed the federal government to nominate Zahid Hamid, Shaukat Aziz and Justice Dogar as Mr Musharraf’s co-accused.

The IHC had also alleged, the petition pointed out, that the federal government had concealed certain facts from the special court. This, it said, was incorrect as the prosecution had laid all the relevant records before the court.

The petition requested the court to review its own judgment and expunge the paragraphs where the federal government had been accused of carrying out a faulty investigation and concealing facts.

The IHC registrar office, after initial scrutiny, received the petition and fixed it before the IHC division bench consisting of Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi and Justice Aamir Farooq for hearing on Tuesday.

Advocate Akram Sheikh had told the special court that the federal government would finalise the investigation team and the probe into the treason case would start after the current petition was disposed of.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2015