Lal Masjid operation: IHC summons Aabpara SHO over Musharraf FIR

Police yet to confirm if case can be registered against former president for incident.

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday summoned the Aabpara police station house office (SHO) over non-compliance with court’s orders to look into whether a case can be registered against former president Pervez Musharraf for his role in the Lal Masjid operation.

IHC Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi directed SHO Qasim Niazi to appear before the court on September 2 in response to a contempt application filed by Haroonur Rashid Ghazi — the son of slain Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Rasheed Ghazi — against the police for non-compliance with court orders and sought criminal proceedings against the police official.

On July 12, 2013, the same bench had ordered the police to book the former president, and if the Lal Masjid operation was a cognisable offence, a case be registered against Musharraf for the death of Ghazi and others during the operation. However, the police had refused to register an FIR, saying that it would do so after consulting their legal branch.

Tariq Asad, the counsel for the petitioner, said that they approached the concerned police station after the court’s decision but both the SHO and SSP refused to register the case.  Earlier, Haroon had filed a written statement with the Aabpara police in which he said the former president had made threatening statements on two occasions before the military operation on the mosque was launched in July 2007.

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