Court rejects Musharraf security fears in Bugti case. PHOTO: AFP
QUETTA: A court on Saturday dismissed a petition by former military dictator Pervez Musharraf for his trial over the death of Akbar Bugti to be transferred due to security fears.
Musharraf was head of state in 2006 when Akbar Bugti died during an army operation.
The retired general, who returned to Pakistan from four years of self-imposed exile in March, has been under house arrest at his villa on the edge of Islamabad since April 19.
He is facing charges in several high-profile cases, including the 2007 murder of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, as well as the killing of Bugti.
Musharraf's lawyers on Saturday asked the Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court to shift his trial over Bugti's death to Rawalpindi, twin city of the capital Islamabad, in Punjab province.
"The court has dismissed our petition saying it is not maintainable," Ilyas Siddiqui, a lawyer who represented Musharraf in the court in Quetta, told AFP.
"We had requested that Musharraf has serious security threats in Balochistan so his case be shifted from the province but the judge did not agree," Siddiqui said.
Earlier, the Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court allowed the provincial government to withdraw a similar petition.
An interim government, set up in the province to conduct general elections on May 11, had filed a request in the Balochistan court for the case to be transferred for security reasons.
However the newly elected provincial government, which took power in June, withdrew the application and informed the court that they could provide security to Musharraf.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
COMMENTS (33)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
@Zahra: Please clarify , in response to whose comment, you wrote down. Thanks
@salim: It is more than a wk and I am still waiting for rest of the six people's name. Those Highly paid speakers' names should not be a secret by you.
please mind your language, he was NOT a former militiary dictator. u guys dont even know what a dictator is! was he a dictator that gave you the freedom to express yourself like this? plz democracy is just a mere fashion statement for you but at least journalism imposes on you the responsibility to give FACTS to the reader, not ur opinionated statements. before critisizing anyone, get your own responsibilities delivered
@Too Smart: Musharraf is not singing but having sleepless nites. He is behaving like a COWARD and not appearing in the court on pretex of security.
@Abid Mohiuddin: I don't think so. Nobody comes close.
@salim: Any body from Pakistan in your list other than Pervez Musharraf ??
@SHB: On your first comment--The burden of proof is on you since you've made allegations.
On Speakers--I'll name three - Madeliene Albright, Kofi Annan, Oprah Winfery etc
@salim: Can you please write down the names of the rest of the nine highest paid SPEAKERS ? Thanks.
@salim: Thanks for your reply. Are you his accountant? If you are , show me the evidence, how much taxes , he paid to the foreign govt or govt of Pakistan? Let Mr Musharraff come up with the true answer because he knows his finances better than you and me. To me he is a corrupt person unless he shows us his last thirteen yrs tax returns.. That was the time he took over govt. By the way in USA, when they want to follow a person for any corruption, they would look into his finances and tax returns. I would suggest you look into finances of Mrs Musharraff and his children also. You might get lot of surprise.
By the way , he is not the only corrupt person in Pakistan . There are lot of them. We are discussing him because there is news about him and now a days he is under the microscope because of his previous mid deeds. Thanks for reading my comment.I have to go and work so I could pay my third quarter estimated tax next month by September 15th 2013.
@SKAR: Imagine what could have happened if he was captured by Indian forces... All the issues could have been sorted out with Pakistan..
@SHB: Simple- among the ten highest paid speakers in the world. Take per session $ 100,000 to 200,000. Over 50 events conducted. Do the math!
This is for ET If some body replies to any comment, it should appear below that original comment. That is the way it is at yahoo.com news section. To me it is problem with the type of soft ware ET is using. Under the present soft ware, one I write any answer, it is not next to original comment. Please fix the problem . Thanks
I think you are either Hindu or Hindustani and your dream will never come true.@Rindh:
@Waseem: This is emotional statement. Please discuss the merit of the case and comment accordingly. Thanks.
@Imtiaz: Let the court hear both sides of the argument, then the Judge can decide. You and me do not have the full knowledge of all the major and minor details. I would say . Let us have a jury trial if the law permits in Pakistan.
@naeem khan Manhattan,Ks: I completely agree with your comment. Thanks for writing so good.
@SKAR: That has got nothing to do with this case. Please keep your comments to the news item. We are talking about Bugti's case and not Kargil
@tr: Please do not think on the lines of provinces. You should talk about the merit of the case. Number two. You think he is honest .Mr Musharraf declared himself at the time of election that his assets are worth Rs 650 million. Can you tell me from where he got this money? How did he collect this kind of money? To me he is corrupt and dishonest man unless proven other wise. If he thinks he is honest regarding his assets, he must give us the detail ,how he got this kind of money?
Long live Musharraf!
How Mr. Musharraf can be held responsible for Bugti's death as well as Benazir death. Firstly Bugti was killed while he was fighting with the state. Anyone who took the arms to carryout his or her plan to harm the country, he or she is deserve to be eliminated. As far as Benazir death case, she defied the agreement and took the risks to loose her life to extremist elements.
Cout should proide a fool proof security to the ex gen and ex president of the country . Entire world knows the meaning of any lapse in it .
@soulat: Gen Musharraf should have thought about all this when he murdered Mr Bugti and locked his coffin.
security fears ? mush and gop decision and action to kill nawab sb was supposed to make balochistan a safer place, isn't it ?
good decision by the court. mush shall be tried in balochistan - he shall have the first hand taste of his irresponsible public statements, bad decisiins, mishandling of balochistan issue
And Musharraf is singing " Catch me if you can".
It is kind of ironical that Musharraf demands fool proof security for himself but he neglected to provide for others when he was the dictator of Pakistan. This is the same guy who some what said that Baluchis would not know what hit them and raised his fist in a Rawalpindi political gathering taunting the Chief Justice of Pakistan who was confined to the Karachi Air Port by the MQM thugs ( May12,2007). This is also the man who said on record that he felt humiliated standing before a judge, like he was above the law and it was beneath his dignity. This General belongs to the same organization who put an elected Prime Minister Bhutto in the "cage" to appear before a Kangaroo Court. Times has changed and the oppressors are begging for mercy now, he should be given all the security the State of Pakistan could provide and must appear before the Judge in Quetta, in order to be fair to the people of Baluchistan. The judiciary must see to it that he be given a fair and transparent trial and let the world see it that Pakistan also has world class judiciary.
People of reason must protest this most unreason stand by the court. Is there any denying of the fact that this is a fabrication of truth and assault on justice. What does Musharraf have to do with death of a mutineer who took arms against the State and died when challenged the writ of the State? The fact that President Musharraf's life is threatened, by the terrorists still fighting Pakistan, and we must ensure that former president of Pakistan is secured from all such acts of terrorism, a judge or a court can not go un-blamed to play a role in jeopardizing any unarmed citizen's life even someone who they perhaps don't like, which appears to be the situation in President Musharraf's case.
While Zardari enjoys, Muharraf waits for decision in BB murder. EPIC Justice system
@Last Word: Joke of the century!!! Don't forget Sir Musharraf has fought wars and in Kargril he went 11KM inside indian border.
BB was braver than Musharraf who despite knowing the deep conspiracy to eliminate her went ahead with the public rally. The former military General should show courage and have faith in the foolproof security cover given to him which he failed to provide to BB intentionally or otherwise shall be decided by the court.
keeping in the rational judiciary is applying in Benazair Murder case, will they also accept the responsibility if something happen to MUsharaf in Quetta ??
Musharaf should b hanged
He is being victimized because his only flaw is he is a Karachi wala and not a Punjabi plus he is an honest man! Its sad this discrimination has created five countries inside Pakistan sadly! This victimization by courts and this biased provincialistic hierarchy should stop otherwise what is happening isnt good for national fabric of this nation.