Ex-president’s trial: Musharraf’s assets, accounts restored

Anti-terrorism court to indict former president in Benazir murder case on August 6, asks him to appear before court.

RAWALPINDI:

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday restored the assets of former president Pervez Musharraf and ordered his appearance on August 6 to indict him in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

The former military ruler appeared in the ATC-1 of Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rahman amid tight security.  The ATC, in the last hearing, had warned that it would shift Musharraf to Adiala jail if he was not presented in person.

The court distributed copies of charge sheets among the accused including former deputy inspector general (DIG) Saud Aziz and Superintendant Police (SP) Khurram Shehzad; while the five other accused were in Adiala jail.

The court also accepted the application for restoring Musharraf’s assets and accounts, which had been seized after he was declared a proclaimed offender.

Musharraf’s advocate Ilyas Siddiqui argued that his client could not be declared a proclaimed offender as he had appeared before the court within two years. He said Musharraf’s assets could also not be frozen.

The former president is detained in his farmhouse at Chak Shehzad in Islamabad, which has been declared a sub-jail due to security threats to his life.

He is facing three cases including the BB murder case, judges detention case and Bugti murder case. He along with the DIG and SP is on bail.

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar Ali said regular trial of the former president and other accused would start on August 6 as copies of charge sheets had been distributed among the accused.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2013.