May 12 mayhem: Sindh High Court summons Musharraf

Court orders summon notice be printed in London’s newspapers. Hearing of the case will take place on April 3, 2012.

KARACHI:
The Sindh High Court on Friday issued a notice summoning former president Pervez Musharraf in the May 12, 2007, Karachi violence case, Express News reported.

The court ordered that the summon notice be printed in London’s newspapers. The hearing of the case will take place on April 3, 2012.

The court also directed that a petition to constitute a larger bench be sent to the Sindh High Court Chief Justice Musheer Alam for hearing.


On May 12, 2007, at least 50 people were killed as political activists fought pitched battles on the city’s streets ahead of the chief justice’s arrival.

On that day, the then dysfunctional chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was scheduled to address the silver jubilee celebrations of the SHC bar association and all parties in the opposition, including the Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamaat-e-Islami, Awami National Party, organised a rally in his support, to escort him to the venue — the SHC building.

The MQM had also announced a competing rally. The roads leading to the airport and SHC were blocked by shipping containers. Lawyers and journalists were maltreated by gun-toting goons, all in their teens, wearing caps, white shirts and jeans and riding in white cars. The then CJ of the SHC, senior judges and others were prevented from entering the court’s premises by these men.

Several petitions, including a suo motu one, were filed but the proceedings were dropped during the interim set-up after Musharraf proclaimed an emergency and suspended the constitution. After Musharraf left, applications for the restoration of the petitions and proceedings were filed.
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