Court adjourns hearing on Musharraf case till Friday

A special court in Pakistan constituted to try former president Pervez Musharraf for high treason has adjourned till Friday the hearing regarding the appearance of the former military dictator in court.

The court resumed its proceedings at 3 p.m. Thursday, after it warned that it would issue an order against the former army chief if he failed to appear before it Jan 16, Dawn online reported.

Musharraf did not appear before the court for Thursday's proceedings. His counsel Anwar Mansoor said his client could not appear in court on account of illness.

In a letter submitted to the court, Mansoor said doctors have recommended that Musharraf be treated at the Paris Regional Medical Centre, Texas.

Earlier, the three-judge panel of the special court headed by Justice Faisal Arab resumed hearing of the treason trial against Musharraf in the morning and reserved the ruling till the afternoon, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.

The ninth hearing of the special court, held in the National Library here, started without Musharraf following the previous trend of the defendant's lawyers' team representing him.

Ibrahim Satti, counsel for Musharraf, sought adjournment of the case for a week as their application was pending before the Supreme Court.

Special public prosecutor Akram Sheikh pleaded that Musharraf was continuously violating the court's orders, which was tantamount to contempt of court. He requested the court to issue contempt of court orders against Musharraf.

After failing, for the second time in 10 days, to appear Jan 1 in the special court formed to try him, Musharraf was being taken to the court Jan 3 when he complained of a "heart problem" and was then taken and admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) in Rawalpindi.

The Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistani government set up the special court to try the former military ruler on charges of high treason for imposing Emergency and subverting the constitution in 2007.

Musharraf has been charged with abrogating, subverting, suspending, holding in abeyance and attempting to conspire against the 1973 Constitution by declaring Emergency and detaining judges of the superior courts.