Unending saga: Musharraf again sent on judicial remand

IHC dismisses petition to put former president’s name on ECL.

ISLAMABAD:

A trial court sent former president General Pervez Musharraf on a two-week judicial remand in connection with the Lal Masjid operation.

On Friday morning, police officials submitted a request in the court seeking Musharraf’s remand. However, the judicial magistrate earlier turned down the request on the pretext that Musharraf had not appeared before the bench.

The police then cited security reasons for not presenting Musharraf before the court and requested the court to exempt him from making a personal appearance.

The court later accepted the plea and sent him to jail for two weeks.

The judicial magistrate, Malik Aman, sent Musharraf on a 14-day judicial remand at his farmhouse which was already declared a sub-jail where the former president has been confined to since the past six months.

Musharraf was rearrested on October 10 on charges of being personally responsible for the deaths of Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi who was killed in the 2007 operation along with his mother. The FIR was filed by the cleric’s son Haroon Rasheed in September.

The former president was rearrested a day after the Supreme Court accepted his bail application in the Akbar Bugti case. Musharraf has also been accused in two other cases, including Benazir Bhutto’s murder case and the judges’ detention case.

IHC dismisses request to put Musharraf on ECL

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed a petition to put Musharraf’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL), which would have barred him from leaving the country.

Acting Chief Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan rejected the petition filed by Haroon Rasheed Ghazi.

Soon after Musharraf was granted bail, his lawyer told the media that the former president would soon leave for Dubai to pay a visit to his mother.

The court observed that Musharraf was rearrested by the police and was already in jail. Advocate Tariq Asad, counsel for the petitioner, maintained that since the former president had obtained bail in the Bugti case, he was preparing to leave the country after Eidul Azha.

He argued that the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) had already granted him bail in two cases -- Benazir Bhutto murder case and the judges’ detention case -- therefore his name should be placed on ECL.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2013.