ISLAMABAD/QUETTA: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted bail to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in the judges’ detention case, directing him to deposit surety bonds worth rupees 500,000.
A two-member bench of the IHC heard the case which was registered against Musharraf on August 11, 2009 on the complaint of a local advocate Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam Ghumman for confining over 60 judges of the superior courts after imposing an emergency on November 3, 2007.
However, Ghumman had later announced that he would not pursue the case ‘in the larger public interest’.
Moreover, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta rejected Musharraf’s bail application in the Akbar Bugti murder case earlier in the day.
The ATC judge Muhammad Ismail Baloch also rejected Musharraf’s plea to shift the case before the ATC in Islamabad.
“Pervez Musharraf was repeatedly asked to appear before the court of law, but he failed to do so”, Sohail Rajput, Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti’s lawyer, told media representatives.
Rajput said Musharraf was the prime accused in Bugti’s murder case and different courts had already issued his non-bail arrest warrants in this regard. He said that Musharraf’s bail application was rejected because he did not appear in person before the court.
Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in a cave on August 26, 2006 during a military crackdown ordered by Musharraf who was president and army chief at the time.
Bugti had led an armed campaign to press for provincial autonomy and a greater share of profits from Balochistan’s natural resources. The death of the colourful, British-educated chieftain sparked angry protests in the country.
DND
