A file photo of Pervez Musharraf. PHOTO: AFP
ISLAMABAD:
In another blow to former president Pervez Musharraf, a local court on Saturday rejected his plea seeking a permanent exemption from appearance in the Abdul Rashid Ghazi murder case.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Wahid Ali rejected Musharraf’s application and summoned the former military ruler on May 3.
Musharraf, who faces a litany of legal charges, has been accused of killing Lal Masjid’s ‘prayer leader’ Abdul Rasheed Ghazi during the 2007 military operation.
On Saturday, Musharraf’s counsel, advocate Akhtar Shah, requested the court to exempt his client’s personal appearance permanently, citing security reasons. Shah argued that the former president faced death threats, adding that he recently escaped an assassination attempt on his way to his Chak Shahzad farmhouse from the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC).
Opposing the argument, the petitioner’s lawyer, advocate Tariq Asad, termed the plea a delaying tactic to avoid the proceedings. “How can Musharraf avoid personal appearance when has extraordinary security?’’ Asad questioned.
Asad said that Musharraf was getting more security than the prime minister and president, so there was justification for avoiding personal appearance.
Dismissing the petition, the court adjourned the matter till May 3.
In September last year, a case was registered against Musharraf for the murder of former cleric and his mother during the Lal Masjid operation.
In the application, Ghazi’s son, Haroon Rasheed, had referred to 20 pages of the Lal Masjid Commission report, which holds the former military ruler responsible for the operation.
The former president had ordered a military operation against Lal Masjid for challenging the writ of the state in 2007.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 6th, 2014.
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Another sure case of judicial victimization. Mind you the police had decided not to even register an FIR, much less file a chalan. But the courts forced this case even though there are no grounds as it is part of historical record how these mullahs took up weapons agains the state. No respectful country would have brought up such as case against its own steps to protect law and order.