Ghazi murder case: Musharraf given three days to submit copies of arrest warrants

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court granted on Monday three days’ time to former president Pervez Musharraf’s counsel to submit certified copies of non-bailable arrest warrants issued against

him by a trial court in the Ghazi Abdul Rasheed murder case.

Justice Aamer Farooq directed Musharraf’s counsel, Malik Tahir Mehmood, to submit the attested copies of the warrants as well as other documents in the case.

The directions came in response to a plea submitted by Musharraf’s counsel challenging the non-bailable warrants as well as the “attitude” of a subordinate court.

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 the case.

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 15^th, 2016.