LHC declares special court for treason trial 'unconstitutional.

Islamabad: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday declared 'unconstitutional' the formation of a special court which tried former military ruler Pervez Musharraf for high treason.

A three-member full bench of the LHC, comprising Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, Justice Mohammad Ameer Bhatti and Justice Chaudhry Masood Jahangir, delivered the unanimous verdict. The court ruled that the treason case against the former president was not prepared in accordance with the law. It declared that the amended Article 6 of the constitution, under which Musharraf had been found guilty, cannot be applied in the case 'ex post facto' (retrospectively).

The Article 6 of the constitution was modified through the 18th Amendment in 2010, while the case against Musharraf concerned events that happened in 2007.

The court ruling came in response to a petition filed by Musharraf challenging the formation of the special court for the high treason case against him.

Musharraf had been handed the death penalty in December last year after being found guilty on five counts in a 2-1 majority verdict. Subsequently, Musharraf had approached the LHC with three petitions filed earlier this month. He had challenged not only the conviction but also the formation of the special court that handed him the death penalty for high treason, as well as the complaint filed against him by the government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif that resulted in the trial. However, the court had only admitted the petitions challenging the formation of the special court and the complaint registered against the former president.

According to both the federal government and Musharraf's lawyer, after the high court's ruling, the verdict issued by the special court stands void.

Earlier during the proceedings on Monday, the government presented in the court the summary and other records related to the formation of the special court set up to try the former president for high treason. Additional Attorney General Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan told the court that the constitution of a special court to try Musharraf under Article 6 of the constitution was not part of the agenda of any of the federal cabinet meetings of the government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. "The special court was constituted without the formal approval of the cabinet," he told the court, and maintained that the charges filed against the former president were flimsy since, under the emergency powers of the executive...