Musharraf urges LHC to stay high treason trial by special court.

DUBAI -- Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Saturday filed an application in the Lahore High Court (LHC), urging it to stay the proceedings pending before a special court in Islamabad which is seized with the high treason case against him.

Filed through advocates Khawaja Ahmad Tariq Raheem and Azhar Siddique, the petition asks the court to stay the trial at the special court until Musharraf's earlier petition pending adjudication by the LHC is decided. In that petition, the former dictator had challenged the formation of a special court holding his trial under charges of high treason and legal flaws committed in the procedure.

Musharraf's latest application comes after the three-member special court earlier this month said it would announce verdict in the high treason case on December 17 after hearing the arguments of the government's new prosecution team.

The application contends that the entire proceedings pending before the special court - from the initiation of the complaint and submission of the final challan to the appointment of the prosecutor and the constitution of the special court itself - are in violation of Articles 90 and 91 of the Constitution and previous Supreme Court judgements.

It says that the proceedings in the high treason case had not been initiated by the federal government in terms of Articles 90 and 91 read with the rules of business and parameters laid down by the Supreme Court in the 2016 Mustafa Impex case judgment - through which the apex court had settled law which had to be applied retrospectively.

According to the application, the complaint against Musharraf had been filed on the directions of then prime...