Court to resume hearing in Musharraf treason case

After a gap of seven months, the special court of Pakistan, which was trying the high treason case against former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, will resume its proceedings and will also take up the application of the former first lady Sehba Musharraf against the confiscation of her properties.The special court had in July last year declared Musharraf, who is soon going to host a show on a private television channel, an absconder and ordered for the confiscation of his movable and immovable properties.According to the details of Musharraf’s properties, which were submitted by the interior ministry to the special court, the former president owns seven immovable properties and nine bank accounts.The immovable properties include plots in the Army Housing Scheme Karachi, Khayaban-i-Faisal DHA Karachi, Beach Street DHA Karachi, DHA Islamabad and DHA Lahore.He also owns a farmhouse in Chak Shahzad and agricultural property in Bahawalpur.Musharraf also has bank accounts in Bank Alfalah, Askari Bank, Habib Metropolitan Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and the National Bank of Pakistan.His wife Sehba Musharraf has now filed an application through her counsel Faisal Hussein against the confiscation of the Chak Shahzad farmhouse and the plots in DHA, Islamabad and Karachi.In her application, Sehba Musharraf claims that her husband had on March 12, 2008 gifted her the Chak Shahzad farmhouse.In 2011, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Rawalpindi had ordered the attachment of the former president’s properties and Musharraf had filed a petition before the Islamabad High Court against the ATC’s order.The suit was later transferred to the Court of Civil Judge Islamabad who disposed of the said suit on Oct 10, 2013, accepting the Musharraf’s ownership of the said property, the application says.