Lal Masjid: Petition seeks ban on Musharraf’s exit

Says it will not be possible to bring him back.


Fawad Ali January 04, 2014
Former president Pervez Musharraf. PHOTO: REUTERS

ISLAMABAD:


A petition has been moved in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday seeking a ban on former president Pervez Musharraf’s exit from Pakistan.


The representative body of people who died in the 2007 Lal Masjid operation in Islamabad, Shuhada Foundation of Pakistan Trust, Lal Masjid, filed the petition to ensure the person they claim ordered the raid on the mosque stays in Pakistan.

Pervez Musharraf is at present under treatment in Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) Rawalpindi after suffering a ‘heart problem’ on his way to appear before the Special Court hearing treason case against him on January 2.

Shuhada Foundation made secretary ministry of interior, IG police Islamabad and DIG security as respondents.

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The petition urged the court to direct secretary ministry of interior not to allow Musharraf leave the country without permission of the court.

“Since one of the accused, namely Pervez Musharraf had been the chief executive of Pakistan exclusively in the administrative and civil capacity during the period when multiple murders were committed (in Lal Masjid),” the petitioner said.

In recent weeks, the petition maintained, Musharraf’s legal team had sought permission for him to leave Pakistan on compassionate grounds to see his sick mother in Dubai. But the government offered to fly back home his mother.

The Shuhada Foundation in its petition claimed that on January 2, Musharraf pretended heart problem to escape appearance before the Special Court conducting the trial in high treason case.

Musharraf’s legal team is again seeking permission to leave the country for his treatment and it is rumoured that arrangements are being made for his departure. “If Musharraf is allowed to leave the country, it would not be possible to bring him back,” it said.

Responsibility of frustrating the case of Lal Masjid would fall on the shoulders of the government, if Musharraf was allowed to leave the country, the petition said. It urged the court to direct the government to make proper arrangement for the former president’s medical treatment and not allow him to leave Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2014.

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