Benazir Bhutto assassination: Musharraf ’s bail extension plea rejected

FIA prosecutor says former president could be arrested any time now.

RAWALPINDI:

A divisional bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday dismissed the plea for an extension in the pre-arrest interim bail of former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

The two-member Rawalpindi bench, comprising Justice Sardar Abdul Sami Khan and Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmed discharged the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) chief’s application after Musharraf’s counsel Barrister Salman Safdar did not appear before the court.

Meanwhile, the court also disposed of another plea of Musharraf’s in which he sought exemption from appearing in the court owing to security reasons.

In a counter argument, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Special Public Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali objected to the request of Musharraf’s counsel arguing that the accused was already under detention and on judicial remand at his Chak Shahzad farm house, which was declared as a sub-jail after the cancellation of his bail in the judges’ detention case.

The bench took notice of the absence of Barrister Safdar, and ordered the junior lawyers including Afshan Adil, who appeared on behalf of Musharraf, to ask their senior to show up before the court for arguments within an hour.

When Barrister Safdar did not show up before the court despite the passage of the deadline, the bench dismissed the plea.

The FIA prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali, while talking to reporters, said that following the cancellation of the bail plea, FIA could arrest him any time in this case.

On April 17, the LHC Rawalpindi bench had granted General (retd) Pervez Musharraf pre-arrest interim bail in the Benazir Bhutto murder case till April 24 against two surety bonds of Rs 5 million each.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2013.