Pervez Musharraf. PHOTO: FILE
A trial court on Wednesday reserved its judgment on the bail plea of former military ruler Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in connection with Lal Masjid operation case.
Musharraf was arrested on Oct 10 on the order of Islamabad High Court (IHC) over the alleged murder of the deputy cleric of Lal Masjid Abdul Rasheed Ghazi and his mother during a military operation in 2007. The ex-president later filed an application before the Additional District and Sessions Court and sought bail in this case.
During the course of hearing on Wednesday, attorneys from both the side completed their arguments and judgment was reserved till November 1.
Gen Musharraf’s counsel, Ilyas Siddiqui, maintained that his client was wrongly implicated in the case as the First Information Report (FIR) was based on mala fide intentions.
He argued that his client was not directly involved in the operation, which was carried out on the orders of then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the decision of his federal cabinet.
“Before the operation, foreigners were being kidnapped and the then deputy commissioner Islamabad had called military for operation,” Siddiqui told the court as he requested it to accept the bail application.
Ghazi’s counsel, Advocate Wajiullah Khan, contested the arguments and said that Musharraf was not entitled to bail as the police had yet to complete their investigation.
He said out of a total of 19 witnesses, only four had recorded their statements. “The key witnesses including former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, former minister for religious affairs Ejazul Haq, former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao and former information minister Tariq Azeem are yet to appear before the court,” Khan said as he requested the court to defer the matter till all the statements are recorded.
He claimed that he would present a video footage in which the former president clearly ordered a military operation. The court asked him to submit the video by Thursday (today) and reserved its judgment, which is likely to be announced on November 1.
Musharraf has already obtained bail in three cases including Benazir Bhutto murder case, Akbar Bugti murder case, and the judges’ detention case.
In September this year, the Aabpara Police registered an FIR against the former military strongman on the direction of the IHC, where the son of the Ghazi, Haroon Rasheed, had filed a petition. The police had placed Musharraf’s name in section 2 of the report as there was no strong evidence against him.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2013.
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@Haroon Gul. Have some sense, Sir. Musharraf grew up in the military that has the highest population from Punjab and KP. He was highly respected by all. It is absolutely false to state the terrorist started because of him. Who supplies money and weapons to these terrorists? Did the drones start due to nothing, or did they start because of these terrorists hiding in the tribal areas? Granted most people in the tribal areas are peaceful and patriotic Pakistani, but there are also militants supported by money and weapons from India. We should be clear in our thinking.
He is the enemy of Pashtuns..period....he and the likes of him are responsible for all this mess...the people who are so called militants used to live normal lives...but when their families started getting murdered by drones since his tenure,they were compelled to retaliate
This is pure judicial vindictiveness. The judges have lost their credibility as a result of Musharaf sacking them. Since their reinstatement all judgments and comments of the judges smell of bias.