Judge’s detention case : ATC suspends Musharraf’s warrants

ISLAMABAD:

An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday suspended arrest warrants issued for former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s till the next hearing and also issued a notice to the state in the judge’s detention case.   

ATC-II judge Sohail Ikram suspended the warrants and issued a notice to the state for the hearing on October 1 after Musharraf’s counsel, Muhammad Ilyas Siddiqi, moved an application for exemption and withdrawal of the arrest warrants, said Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Aamir Nadeem Tabish.

In the application, Siddiqi stated that the court had issued warrants due to the unavailability of a medical certificate, but the petitioner had since placed on record medical certificates issued by a medical board which recommend that he avoid travelling.

He prayed to the court to accept the petitioner’s absence and requested that the non-bailable warrants be withdrawn.

Medical report

In the medical report issued on September 8, 2015, orthopaedic surgeons Dr Sohail Rafi and Dr Imtiaz Hashmi, neurologist Nadeem Memon, and neurosurgeon Tariq Muhammad have stated that the treatment facilities needed by the former president are not available in Pakistan.

The board examined Musharraf regarding complaints of severe back pain and severe left leg radiculopathy and numbness, said that his symptoms were worsening despite the use of painkillers and regular physiotherapy sessions.

Based on his spondylolysis and severe degenerative disc disease at multiple levels, the board recommended that Musharraf be operated on. “He requires minimal invasive surgery for his pathology under control of neuronavigation.”

They stated that the instruments and implants required are not available in Pakistan and opined that “he may have to go to a country where these facilities are available”.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th,  2015.