LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday reserved verdict on the maintainability of a petition seeking action against former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf for allegedly ridiculing the judiciary by saying the army had helped him out in treason proceedings.

Representing the petitioner, Advocate Rana Asadullah Khan argued before the court that the former president in a television programme repeatedly claimed that then army chief Raheel Sharif had managed things for him in proceedings under treason charges and secured him a safe exit from the country.

He said Musharraf candidly and repeatedly claimed he was saved by influencing the courts.

The lawyer argued that the federal law ministry should be directed to initiate an inquiry against Gen Musharraf for scandalising and ridiculing the institution of the judiciary.

He also sought a direction for the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to take action against the news channel for showing the allegedly derogatory programme against the judiciary.

The counsel further asked the court to direct the federal government to file a reference with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), a political party Musharraf formed and heads, for violating Political Parties Order 2002 by working against the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan.

After hearing the arguments, Justice Shahid Karim observed that the court would first decide maintainability of the petition before issuing any direction, and reserved his verdict.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2017