ISLAMABAD: Two petitions were filed in a special court in Islamabad on Monday to stop the verdict against former president Pervez Musharraf in the high treason case.

One of the pleas have been filed by the Ministry of Interior and the other by barrister Salman Safdar.

The plaintiffs have said that the verdict should not be announced until the accused presented his arguments in his defence.

Also Read: Court reserves verdict in Musharraf treason case

The Interior Ministry said that the special court should dissolve its decision of reserving the verdict till appointment of the new prosecution team. While, the other application has said that the accused was deprived of the basic rights of justice. It said that the former president could not appear before the court because of his severe illness.

On Nov 19, the Islamabad special court had reserved its judgement in the high treason case against Pervez Musharraf. The ruling in the case is scheduled to be announced on November 28 (Thursday).

Head of three-member bench of the special court, Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Seth had conducted the hearing.

The ex-president was indicted in the treason case in March 2014 for suspending the Constitution in 2007. While under court trial, he had left the country to get medical assistance in Dubai in 2016. He has not returned to the country since then.

Sources had told that neither plaintiff, nor anybody from the government side, nor counsel of Pervez Musharraf appeared before the court.

During the hearing Waqar Seth had inquired that why new prosecutor was not appointed. He also said Musharraf’s lawyer had been given three chances and he still did not appear to defend his client before the court.

It may be mentioned that a crucial development had taken place following the last hearing when the federal government had on Oct 24 dissolved the prosecution, constitutional teams, and the research assistant working on the case.

The notification in this regard had said that the step had been taken under Section 4-A of the Central Law Officers Ordinance, 1970, which dealt with appointments made by the president. It had said that the services of the teams had been “disengaged”.

The high treason case against the former president was started against Musharraf in 2013 during the government of the Pakistan Muslim League-N.