High treason case: Musharraf challenges appointment of judges

, Dec 23:

's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf today challenged the appointment of judges and a prosecutor to try him for high treason, just hours before appearing in a special court here.

Musharraf's advocate Khalid Ranjha filed the challenge in the Islamabad High Court. The 70-year-old former president last week challenged the authority of the special court to hear the treason case against him, stating that he was the army chief when he imposed emergency in 2007 and a military court alone could examine his actions.

The court would hear the application today, a day before it begins the actual trial. Meanwhile, the Sindh High Court today disposed of Musharraf's plea seeking removal of his name from the Interior Ministry's Exit Control List, saying the matter did not fall under its authority.

The court advised Musharraf's advocate to ask the government to remove his name from the list. The government had barred Musharraf from leaving Pakistan because he was at that time arrested in four major cases, including one over the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf has been given bail in all these cases, but his name was not removed from the ECL.

PTI