ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's top court Wednesday summoned former president Pervez Musharraf to defend himself over a decision to impose a state of emergency and controversially sacking judges two years ago.
A 14-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, issued notice to Musharraf to appear in person or through counsel on July 29.
Musharraf sacked Chaudhry and dozens of other senior judges in 2007, fearing that the chief justice would disqualify him from contesting a presidential election while in military uniform.
"The supreme court invited Musharraf because his actions are being discussed in court," Attorney General Latif Khosa told reporters
"The court is giving him a chance to defend himself," Khosa said, after attending the proceedings of the bench headed by Chaudhry.
Musharraf was replaced last year as Pakistan's president by Asif Ali Zardari, whose party won general elections and who reinstated Chaudhry and his fellow judges in March following a protracted political crisis.
Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and lawyers organised a march on the capital Islamabad, demanding that Zardari reinstate the judges, during mass protests that risked further destabilising the nuclear-armed country.
Under Western pressure Zardari also conceded to defuse the standoff with Sharif, who had urged the masses to rise up against the government.
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