Notice issued on Musharraf`s plea against arrest warrants
By Malik Asad
2015-09-16
ISLAMABAD: The anti-terrorism court (ATC) here on Tuesday issued notice to the prosecution on an application filed by former president Pervez Musharraf against the issuance of non-bailable arrest warrants to him.
ATC Judge Sohail Ikram on September 11 issued the former military ruler`s non-bailable arrest warrants for his repeated absence from the proceedings of the judges` detention case.
After preliminary hearing of the applica-tion, the judge issued the notice to the state and adjourned further proceedings till October 1.
Ilyas Siddiqi, the counsel for Gen Musharraf, submitted a medical report of his client to the court and said a four-member medical board had directed the former military ruler to avoid travelling.
Previously, an application seeking Musharraf`s exemption from attendance in the court was rejected on the ground that it had no attached medical report.
As per the medical report, the doctors advised for the treatment of Gen Musharraf`s backbone from abroad, saying local hospitals lacked the required facilities.
In April 2013, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the arrest of Gen Musharraf during the hearing of a plea the former military ruler filed for a pre-arrest bail in the judges` detention case. The IHC also directedthe police to register the case under relevant sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 for detaining the judges.
Several judges, including the then chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, were detained during the imposition of an emergency in the country by Gen Musharraf on November 3, 2007.
Another judge recuses from cleric`s murder case Additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Ata Rabbani on Tuesday recused himself from the proceedings of the trial of former president Pervez Musharraf in the Abdul Rashid Ghazi murder case, citing personal reasons.
Rabbani is the third judge who disassociated himself from the case since the trial proceedings in the cleric murder case began in 2013.On September 8, ADSJ Kamran Basharat Mufti had recused himself from the proceedings after Musharraf`s counsel contended that since the judge was associated with the Lal Masjid Commission, which probed the July 2007 military operation, he could not conduct the trial.
Following the objection, Mufti referred the matter to another judge.
The case against Gen Musharraf was registered in 2013 and ADSJ Wajid Ali heard the case until June this year when it was referred to ADSJ Mufti.
Though the police arrested Musharraf in the murder case in October 2013, he was later released on bail.
In the challan of the murder case, the police maintained that there was no evidence or any eyewitness whatsoever which could prove Musharraf`s involvement in the murder.