Bailable arrest warrant was issued against Pakistan’s former dictator General Pervez Musharraf on Monday by a Balochistan High Court in connection with the murder case of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
The former president’s counsel informed the court that his client could not appear before the court because of “security reasons”. Meanwhile, Bugti’s lawyer lashed out at Pervez Musharraf saying that he had disrespected the court by failing to appear before the court despite repeated orders.
The court further directed the the administration to ensure adequate security to Musharraf while he appears in court. Pakistan government had allowed Musharraf to go abroad in March this year for medical treatment.
Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in an operation in Balochistan’s rugged mountains of Taratani in
Kohlu district on August 26, 2006.
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 Baloch chieftain had sparked angry protests in parts of the country. Musharraf, who went into self-imposed exile in Dubai after being forced to resign as president facing impeachment following the 2008 elections, had returned to Pakistan in 2013 to contest elections but was implicated in several cases. He also lost in the polls.
He was not allowed to leave the country until government allowed him in March this year to go abroad for treatment following orders by the Supreme Court.
Musharraf has been facing a slew of cases, including the high treason trial since 2013 and he was barred from leaving the country in 2014 by the government. Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
—With PTI inputs
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