ISLAMABAD: During Tuesday’s hearing of the treason case against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, a counsel representing the ex army strongman told the Supreme Court that the entire judiciary and lawyer community was biased in their opinion of him, DawnNews reported

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, was hearing a set of petitions seeking the initiation of a treason case against Musharraf.

During the hearing, Musharraf’s counsel Ahmed Raza Kasuri told the bench that the Peshawar High Court (PHC) had imposed a life-time ban on the retired general, barring him from contesting polls for the national and provincial assemblies as well as the Senate. He added that ineligibility could only be declared for five years and accused the judiciary of being anti-Musharraf.

Kasuri argued that Musharraf had been fighting the “war on terror” for eight years and it was ridiculous that terror charges were brought against him. He added that the seven judges who had issued the stay order on November 3, 2007 were no longer judges in the event of the institution of the Provincial Constitutional Order (PCO).

In his arguments, Kasuri also mentioned lawyers claiming they were operating through foreign assistance. His remarks were met with objection from the bench. Advocate Athar Minallah and Muhammad Ahsan Sheikh said the whole world knew that the lawyers’ movement for justice was clean and independent.

Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, present on the bench, said that if Kasuri did not agree with the court’s decision, then he should have filed an appeal.