ISLAMABAD: Court reporters went excitedly to the National Library on Friday to hear the Special Court sitting there indict retired General Pervez Musharraf for high treason but returned with the story that security arrangements were tight for the former army chief and humiliating for them.

They fumed that they were made to go through series of checks when the March 10 ISI warning, that triggered heightened security, had said `terrorists have sympathisers in the security/cavalcade of Gen Pervez Musharraf` and could try to assassinate him.

They felt worse for the experience on learning that the accused sat tight in his hospital bed all the while.

Still, the journalists arriving to cover his expected appearance in the court found the parking space in the National Library grounds restricted to them and most of them had to park their cars outside at the unprotected and uneven green belt.

On entering the grounds, security personnel told them to deposit their cellphones for they are not allowed in-side the court premises. Some of them were told they even could not keep their car key with them.

`Then keep it where,` asked a journalist. `In your car,` replied the security personnel with a straight face.

Then they had to pass through four checkpoints before allowed into the courtroom. It was during this checking that some of the journalists were led away to a washroom in the building.

`I felt humiliated. I looked for some senior police officer to protest but none was in sight,` said TV reporter Abid Malik about his washroom checking experience. Only SSP Dr Mohammad Rizwan was spotted inside the court but only briefly.

`Since there was no proper place for such examination, the security staff used the washroom for a thorough checking,` explained DIG Security Jan Mohammad when confronted with the humiliating treatment much later.

`These security procedures are followed around the world for the protection of certain personalities,` he added. A female reporter also underwent the washroom experience at the hands of a policewoman. But seeking her comments looked adding to her hurt feelings.