Legal pile-up: Court serves notice to Musharraf in a missing person case

Muhammad Siddique had filed an application saying his son was picked up by police in 2005 and hasn't returned since.

ABBOTABAD: A court of sessions judge served a notice to former dictator Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in a missing person case on Friday.

He was asked to appear before the court on April 4.

In 2011, Advocate Iqbal Khan had appeared on behalf of Muhammad Siddique of Mohalla Malikpura and filed an application under Section 22-A of the PPC seeking registration of a criminal case against Musharraf.

He said his client Siddique contended that his son Atiqur Rehman, an employee of Qadeer Khan Research Laboratory, was picked up by local police one evening of September 2005 - the very next morning of his wedding.

According to the complainant, his son was later taken into custody by the sleuths of intelligence agencies and has not returned home since then.

On Siddique's application, the court of district judge had ordered the registration of a criminal case against Musharraf at the city police station in Abbottabad in September 2010.

The accused had failed to appear before the court during the trial as he was in self-exile.

The court had ordered the attachment of Musharraf’s movable and immovable property and had declared him a proclaimed offender.

However, according to Advocate Khan, the case file was closed when the Supreme Court constituted a judicial commission on missing persons case headed by Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal Khan.

After the arrival of Musharraf in Pakistan last week, the disgruntled lawyers again moved an application in the court of district under Judge Arshad Khan seeking trial of the proclaimed offender in the Atiqur Rehman case and all other cases that were pending against him.

The court admitted the application for hearing and served notices to the prosecution and to Musharraf for appearing before the court on April 4.