The special court overseeing former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf’s high treason case has refused to accept Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order to halt the verdict due Thursday, a private media outlet reported Thursday.

According to reports, the special court has said that they “are not bound to accept IHC’s order” that on Wednesday had stopped it from issuing a ruling in the case filed against Musharraf by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government for the imposition of an extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.

The special court was set to announce the ruling in the treason case Thursday, however, the IHC, which was hearing petitions filed by former president Musharraf and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to postpone it, had told the court to not announce the verdict just yet.

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It had also directed the special court to admit the arguments of all parties in the case before announcing the ruling and ensure a fair trial.

MUSHARRAF TREASON CASE:

The PML-N government had in 2013 filed the treason case against Musharraf over the president’s imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.

Earlier this year, head of the prosecution, Mohammad Akram Sheikh, tendered his resignation. In his resignation letter sent to the interior secretary, Sheikh expressed his inability to proceed with the case after the imminent change of government at the centre.

Akram was appointed as the head of the prosecution in the case in November 2013, by the then ruling PML-N.

Musharraf was indicted in the case in March 2014 after he appeared before the court and rejected all charges.

On March 18, 2016, the former president left the country for Dubai for medical treatment after his name was removed from the exit control list (ECL) on the orders of the Supreme Court (SC).

A few months later, the special court had declared him a proclaimed offender and ordered the confiscation of his property owing to his continuous inability to appear.

Later, his passport and identity card were also cancelled on orders of the apex court.