Pakistan's top court has accepted a government request to set up a special tribunal to try former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf for high treason, an offence punishable by death or life in prison.
A spokesman for Supreme Court of Pakistan announced in a statement on Monday that the Court had received a government letter asking for the establishment of "a Special Court to try General (R) Pervez Musharraf under Section 2 of the High Treason Punishment Act" of the constitution.
After receiving the letter, the head of Supreme Court, chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, ordered all the high courts from the country's four provinces to put forward the names of any judges eligible for the three-member special tribunal by Wednesday, the statement added.
Out of this list Chaudhry will then choose three names for the Special Court and forward them to the government.
The decision to try Musharraf for treason, announced live on TV by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Sunday, puts the country's civilian leaders on an unprecedented collision course with the all-powerful military.
It comes after Musharraf was granted bail in other cases against him, stoking rumours a deal for his departure could be imminent.
The treason accusation relates to Musharraf's decision in 2007 to impose emergency rule shortly before the Supreme Court was due to decide on the legality of his re-election as president a month earlier while he was still army chief.
Afshan Adil, a member of Musharraf's legal team and representative of his All Pakistan Muslim League, denounced the treason investigation but said her leader was unafraid.
Aides to the 70-year-old former commando have said he wants to stay and clear his name of all the charges against him.
So far the cases have proceeded at a glacial pace, edging from adjournment to adjournment with almost no perceptible progress made since April, beyond the granting of bail.
Musharraf overthrew the government of Nawaz Sharif - elected to power again in May this year - in a bloodless military coup in October 1999, but a year later the Supreme Court validated the take over.
During the 2007 emergency rule he suspended the constitution and parliament, and sacked top judges who declared his actions unconstitutional and illegal.
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