Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf’s lawyers were not allowed to meet him today at his residence, which has been declared a sub-jail, despite an order issued by the Supreme Court.

Prison officials posted at Musharraf’s five-acre farmhouse at Chak Shahzad on the outskirts of Islamabad said the lawyers could meet their client only if they got a “no-objection certificate” from the Punjab Government.

Officials of Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, which comes under the Punjab Government, are responsible for supervising the detention of 69-year-old Musharraf.

The Supreme Court’s Registrar called the prison officials and asked them to permit the lawyers to meet Musharraf but they were unable to see him.

Ahmad Raza Kasuri, the head of Musharraf’s legal team, told the media outside the farmhouse: “If we can’t speak to our client, how will we fight the case? It is like going into war without weapons”.

Kasuri said the time granted by the Supreme Court for the meeting had ended and they would return to the court as a mark of protest.

Earlier, a three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Jawwad Khwaja began hearing five petitions seeking Musharraf’s trial on a charge of treason for imposing emergency rule in 2007 and detaining over 60 members of the superior judiciary.

During the hearing, Musharraf’s lawyers said they were not allowed to meet their client and thus could not receive fresh instructions from him on the case.

The bench then directed the lawyers to go to Musharraf’s farmhouse to meet him.

After being prevented from meeting Musharraf, Kasuri said his client might have reservations against the three-judge bench hearing the case.

“Earlier, we had asked for a full bench minus the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. We appreciate the fact that the Chief Justice had graciously stepped down from the bench,” he said.

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