The Lahore High Court has returned an application by former Pakistan dictator Pervez Musharraf challenging the death sentence pronounced by a special court in a sedition case. The Registrar's Office of the Lahore High Court returned the petition citing absence of full bench due to winter vacation.
In this petition filed on Friday through advocate Azhar Siddiq, the Federal Government of Pakistan and others were made defendants. In this 86-page petition, Musharraf himself demanded the formation of a full bench of the court to quash the death sentence. The special court sentenced Musharraf to death in his absence on 17 December in a sedition case. According to the Dawn newspaper, the court registrar returned the petition with the comment that a full bench was not available due to winter vacation.
A three-member bench set up by the High Court will hear Musharraf's main application on January 9 in which he has challenged all proceedings from the sedition complaint against him till the end. Musharraf's lawyer Siddiq said that returning the petition against the decision of the special court, the registrar has asked the petitioner to re-file the relevant petition in the first week of January.
