Following the Supreme Court orders, summons for former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case has been pasted outside his farmhouse in the Chak Shahzad neighbourhood of Islamabad.
The notice demanded that the former military ruler return from exile and appear before the apex court on March 22. “You are required to bring your original identity card for entering the premises of the Supreme Court building,” the notice reads.
The notice was pasted at the main entrance to Musharraf’s extravagant farmhouse which was locked up from all sides and nobody was available at the residence to comment on whether the message has been conveyed to the former military ruler.
“Yes, I can confirm that a notice has been pasted on the main gate of Musharraf’s farmhouse,” Sheikh Naeem, a senior police official, told AFP.
A three judge-bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhamamd Chaudhry, on Monday directed a notice be pasted at Musharraf’s residence after he failed to respond to repeated notices to appear before the court.
When contacted, Musharraf’s former spokesperson Rashid Qureshi refused to have received any such warrants, saying that he has no idea in this regard and referred the issue to Barrister Saif, who is the incumbent spokesperson for the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) — Musharraf’s political party. However, a response from Saif was not forthcoming despite repeated attempts on his cell phone.
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi has issued an arrest warrant for Musharraf after his ignorance to appear before the court to respond to questions about the murder of former prime minister Bhutto.
A court in Quetta had also issued a similar arrest warrant for the former president in connection with the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing a petition filed by Bhutto’s former protocol officer Advocate Aslam Chaudhry, who wants a second FIR be registered against Musharraf and 12 others in connection with her assassination. President Musharraf has been living in a self exile since 2009.
Earlier, the interior ministry also issued red warrants to Interpol’s headquarter in Switzerland for the former president’s arrest and sought his return to carry out proceedings against him in the murder probe.
(WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP)
Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2012.
COMMENTS (4)
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i believe that the current government is making Musharraf a scapegoat to divert people's attention from more important issues. There is no question of Musharraf's involvement in BB's murder and where the question of providing adequate security is concerned then the current president should be tried for the lost of lives of everybody who has been killed because the current government failed to protect the lives of those valuable citizens.
Why this all is being done now ? It was to be taken up; when he stepped down from presidency. For the time being this issue must be closed till his production from abroad.It does not bear any weight for any one ,to make it a national issue at the moment.
What do we call this. Comedy. People in Islamabad are so innocent that they do not know where the dictator is. Can't SC ask the concerned authroties to extradite from his current place of residence?
Yes it is right . Now a days Courts are working in freedom environment.