ISLAMABAD, Dec 11: The federal government has notified a 15-member panel to try former president General (retired) Pervez Musharraf for high treason.

A notification in this regard was issued on December 9 stating that “the federal government is pleased to appoint the following members of the prosecution team to conduct the prosecution of the case against Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf for various offences falling under Section 2 of High Treason (Punishment) Act 1973.”

Mr Mohammad Akram Sheikh, senior advocate of Supreme Court, has already been appointed as head of the team.

Apart from Advocate Sheikh, lawyers representing the government are: Dr Tariq Hassan, Nasiruddin Khan Nayyar, Ikram Chaudhry, Sardar Asmatullah, Tayyab Jafri, Ishtiaq Ibrahim, Sajeel Shaharyar, Natalya Kamal, Sharjeel Adnan Sheikh, Hasan Mann, Faraz Raza, Haider Murtaza, Naeem Qureshi and Raheel Kamran Sheikh.

In addition, the 8-member panel which would defend the former army chief in treason case are: Sharifuddin Pirzada, Dr Khalid Ranjha, Ilyas Siddiqui, Ahmed Raza Kasuri, Ibrahim Satti, Anwar Mansoor and Waqar Rana.

Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif on November 19 had approved a three-member special court for Mr Musharraf’s trial.

The special court comprises of Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, Justice Tahira Safdar of Balochistan High Court and Justice Yawar Ali of Lahore High Court.

Initially, the law ministry had allocated Courtroom 6 of the Federal Shariat Court for Musharraf’s trial under Article 6.

However, the registrar of special court District and Sessions Judge Abdul Ghani Soomro pointed out that the courtroom was too small to house the large number of attendants expected.

Therefore, it is now expected that Mr Musharraf’s trial would be held at the National Library adjacent to the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. —A Reporter