Ghazi murder case: Musharraf granted exemption till May 22

Court says accused must appear at the next hearing.

ISLAMABAD:

A capital court on Saturday exempted former president Pervez Musharraf from personal appearance in the murder case of Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, the former ‘prayer leader’ of Lal Masjid.

Additional Sessions Judge Wajid Ali directed the former military ruler to appear on May 22, while granting him exemption from appearance on Saturday. When the court resumed the hearing of the case, Advocate Akhtar Shah, counsel for Musharraf, submitted an application requesting the court to exempt the personal appearance of his client, due to security threats.

Counsel for the petitioner Abdul Haq opposed the application and maintained that on every hearing, his opponent submitted an application for personal appearance which is “unfair” and requested that the court dismiss it.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court adjourned the matter till May 22.

Musharraf has been accused of murdering former prayer leader of Lal Masjid, Rasheed Ghazi during the 2007 military operation. On September 2, 2013 capital police had registered a murder case against Musharraf, on the direction of Islamabad High Court (IHC). The petition was filed by Haroon Rasheed, the son of Ghazi, last year.

In the application, Rasheed had referred to about 20 pages of the Lal Masjid Commission report which held Musharraf responsible for the operation. Earlier, the IHC had stopped SHO Aabpara Qasim Niazi, from leaving the courtroom, saying that he would not be allowed to leave until a case was registered against Musharraf.


Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2014.