Musharraf challenges his non-bailable arrest warrants

Counsel says his client, former head of State and chief of Pakistan army is being treated like a criminal

ISLAMABAD: Former President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf has once again challenged the non-bailable arrest warrants against him, as well as the “attitude” of a subordinate court before the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

On February 20, a district and sessions court issued arrest warrants against the former president with directions to forfeit surety bonds after he failed to appear before the court in connection with the murder case of Lal Masjid cleric Ghazi Abdul Rasheed.



“The petitioner is a respectable citizen, remained the head of the State and the chief of one of the best armies in the world, and he has been treated as a criminal,” Musharraf’s counsel Malik Tahir Mehmood stated.

“[The] Attitude is not sustainable considering the fact that the petitioner has already been declared innocent in the case; he has been placed in column two of the charge-sheet by the police,” he argued. The impugned order was not sustainable and liable to be set aside, the counsel added.

While dismissing the application for his exemption from court appearance, the judge had ordered to forfeit the surety bonds.



Musharraf’s counsel filed a petition for the dismissal of the exemption leave and the subsequent order. In the petition, Mehmood requested the court to set aside the orders as Musharraf could not appear before the court due to his illness.

Mehmood has also argued that Musharraf has been exempted from personal appearance in the treason trial being conducted by the special court, as well as in the judges’ detention cases, conducted by an anti-terrorism court on the basis of medical reports. The counsel said that he had moved an application seeking exemption on medical grounds but it was dismissed.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2016.