By Prarthana Mitra
A Pakistani Special Court hearing a high treason case has issued a written order for ex-president Pervez Musharrafs passport to be suspended, his identity card revoked, besides arranging for his arrest with the help of Interpol on Friday.
By direct order issued at a hearing on March 8 judges have asked for Musharrafs assets to be confiscated, as well as tasked the Pakistani government with extraditing him from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he sought political asylum after being charged with high treason. The three-chamber bench was headed by Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Yawar Ali and Justice Tahira Safdar of the Balochistan High Court
However, the written order was issued later, after the court bench expressed disappointment over the government’s inaction so far at Islamabad on Friday, reminding Pakistani jurisprudence about its failure to put the earlier directive into prompt action.
Will Musharraf face the music after return?
Secretary-General of former Presidents All Pakistan Muslim League, Dr Mohammad Amjad informed the press that Musharraf has decided “to travel to Pakistan by the end of April and face trial”, provided he gets maximum and foolproof security upon return. Pervez Musharraf’s lawyer Akhtar Shah has also requested the same from the Interior Ministry in the past.
The court bench also reminded the government that the special court has been hearing the treason case against Musharraf for subverting the Constitution and declaring a state of emergency on November 3, 2007, for the last five years.
The former army chief was indicted for the same in March 2014 after he appeared before the court and rejected all charges. On March 18, 2016, Musharraf left Pakistan for Dubai on account of medical treatment after his name was removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) on the orders of the Supreme Court.
The next hearing of the case has been fixed for March 21. Meanwhile, there has been no response from Musharraf about the revocation of his passport and other documents of identification.