KARACHI, April 14 A division bench of the Sindh High Court adjourned on Tuesday the hearing of a petition against retired Gen Pervez Musharraf and his associates for imposing emergency and amending the Constitution in violation of constitutional provisions on Nov 3, 2007.

The petition has been moved by Maulvi Iqbal Haider of Awami Himayat Tehrik for a treason trial of the ex-president, his adviser Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, former attorney-general Malik Muhammad Qayyum and all others who aided and abetted the imposition of emergency and subsequent violation of the Constitution under its Article 6. The proclamation issued by Gen Musharraf in his capacity as the (then) army chief also contravened the Supreme Court restraint order of the same date passed by a seven-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The petition says that the Constitution was arbitrarily amended in contravention of the amendment procedure prescribed by its Articles 238 and 239. The amendments still hold the field. It particularly seeks an interim injunction against the Islamabad High Court, which was set up under the proclamation of emergency. Besides the notification of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar's retirement should be set aside to the extent that it described him as the chief justice of Pakistan.

Advocates Sharifuddin Pirzada, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Aziz A. Munshi requested the division bench comprising Justices Mushir Alam and Safdar Ali Bhutto that they had filed their powers of attorney and responded to the court notices and that the petition may be fixed for hearing on a convenient date to enable them to file comments. They said the principal counsel for the respondents, Advocate Abdul Hafeez Pirzada would be on general adjournment for a few weeks. The bench allowed the request and fixed May 19 as the next date of hearing.

The petitioner later said he would press for an early hearing as the respondents had all been served and the constitutional deviation was still continuing. He said the petition appeared at serial number 26 of the cause list but the three senior lawyers requested a long adjournment for filing comments before the case was called. Attorney-General Latif Khan Khosa also submitted his power of attorney on behalf of the federation but was not present in the courtroom when the lawyers rose to make their request. The petitioner pointed out that the petition also sought a travel ban on retired Gen Musharraf, who had been allowed to proceed abroad. The relief prayed for by him could be rendered infructuous if the respondents' names were not placed on the exit control list, he said.