A Pakistani court today reserved its ruling on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s plea seeking the lifting of a travel ban on him. Musharraf, 70, is facing treason charges for subverting and circumventing the Constitution by imposing emergency on November 3, 2007. The federal government has placed his name on the Exit Control List (ECL), stating he might try to flee the country.
Musharraf, who was formally indicted in March on treason charges, approached the Sindh High Court last month to lift
the travel ban imposed by the federal government. He wanted to go abroad to see his ailing mother in Dubai and also to see doctors for his “heart problem” and pain in the back.
A two-judge bench of the Sindh High Court, headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, heard the petition. The ruling was reserved after Musharraf’s counsel Naseem and Attorney General Pakistan Salman Aslam Butt concluded their arguments on the matter. “I told the court that Musharraf will certainly appear before the court if and when summoned after his name is removed from the exit control list and he is allowed to travel abroad,” Naseem said.
The government has opposed the petition, arguing that a person accused in a high profile case cannot be allowed to
leave the country on medical or personal grounds. After his return to Pakistan from self-exile in March last year to take part in elections, Musharraf has faced prosecution in four major cases, including for his alleged involvement in the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in 2006.
The former president, who is the first military ruler in Pakistan’s history to be tried in court, has rejected all the
charges leveled against him. Currently Musharraf is in Karachi with his daughter and in the medical care of a Navy-run hospital. PTI