ISLAMABAD - Former military ruler general (retd) Pervez Musharraf, who is facing a treason charges under Article 6, will appear before the trial court tomorrow, one of his top lawyers said on Sunday.
"He will appear before the special court on February 18," Barrister Khalid Ranjha told The Nation.
The special court headed by Justice Faisal Arab had ordered the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf to appear on February 18.
The 70-year-old general is facing treason charges, which can carry the death penalty/ life imprisonment over his imposition of a state of emergency in 2007 while he was president.
He was first ordered before the tribunal on December 24 but has yet to put in an appearance, with bomb scares and health problems keeping him away.
The former general has been AFIC Rawalpindi since falling ill with heart trouble while traveling to court on January 2.
On January 31 the court refused to grant him permission to go abroad for medical treatment and ordered him to appear on Friday.
But at the February 7 hearing Justice Faisal Arab had accepted a request from Musharraf's lawyers that he should be exempted from personal appearance until February 18.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was the man Musharraf haf ousted from power in his 1999 coup, and his lawyers have said the treason case is an attempt to settle the old scores through courts.
They have also challenged the civilian court's right to try a former army chief, saying he is entitled to be dealt with by a military tribunal.
In addition to treason, Musharraf faces an array of other criminal charges dating back to his 1999-2008 rule, including for the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December 2007.
According to leading legal brains of the country, the decision of Pervez Musharraf to appear before the court is well-calculated move could help him earn more legal advantages that would benefit him in the course of trial.