Plea to drop terror charges against Musharraf rejected

The Islamabad High Court has dismissed a petition that sought deletion of terrorism charges against former President Pervez Musharraf and transfer of the judges detention case from the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) to the sessions court.

An IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb on Wednesday resumed the hearing of the petition filed by Musharraf through his lawyer Akhtar Shah, reports Dawn news.

The bench dismissed the petition because of Shah's repeated absence during the hearing of the case.

The former President has been seeking deletion of terrorism charges and subsequent transfer of his case from the ATC to the sessions court on the ground that initially the FIR was registered under the Pakistan Penal Code against him in connection with the detention of 60 judges of the superior judiciary after the imposition of emergency on November 3, 2007.

However, in 2013, a single-member bench of the IHC had ordered the police to invoke the anti-terror law against the military dictator since detaining judges is an act of terrorism.

The ATC has already declared Musharraf a proclaimed offender in the judges' detention case as he has been abroad since March 2016.

The prosecution has laid entire evidence against the accused in this case.

However, the trial is at a standstill as the former leader is absconding in the case.