Court puts Musharraf under house arrest
By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
KARACHI - Former Pakistan president and military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been put under house arrest for two days following his surrender to an Islamabad court.
Pakistani television broadcasts on Friday showed Musharraf being escorted by uniformed police officers to an Islamabad court, before returning once again to his home on the outskirts of the city. Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Abbas Shah declared the residence of Musharraf at Chak Shahzad as a sub-jail, and ordered him to remain their for 48 hours. Musharraf waited in the court's premises in his car while the hearing was taking place.
On Thursday after the former dictator had been whisked away
from Islamabad High Court after it cancelled his bail application and ordered his arrest. Escorted by his personal security, Musharraf left courtroom without facing any resistance from police.
Mohammad Amjad, secretary-general of All Pakistan Muslim League, the political party Musharraf leads, said the magistrate had ordered Musharraf to appear before an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi after two days. "Musharraf himself surrendered before the court Friday morning."
The former dictator was arrested in connection with the firing of judges in 2007, when he imposed emergency rule and suspended the constitution. He is also facing allegations over the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. He returned to Pakistan last month after four years of self-imposed exile, seeking to run in the May 11 general elections, but he since been disqualified from running over allegations he subverted the constitution as army chief in the 1999 military coup and by illegally placing senior judges under house arrest.
In the judges' detention case, Musharraf is accused of putting more than 60 judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, under house arrest in November 2007 when he proclaimed of a state of emergency. He is also accused of killing Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Khan Bugti in 2006 and being involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Bhutto in December 2007 during an election rally in Rawalpindi city.
Political observers believe that Musharraf's house arrest has piled pressure on the caretaker government after it failed to follow the court's order on Thursday. The caretaker federal minister for information, Arif Nizami, on Thursday vowed to implement the court's decision.
"Musharraf's arrest will not plunge Pakistan into anarchy. Such apprehensions will prove to be false alarms as they hold no water," Nizami told local media.
In a statement posted on his official Facebook page on Thursday, Musharraf warned that the rejection of his bail extension could cause "unnecessary tension amongst the various pillars of state and possibly destabilize the country''.
"We expect this unwarranted judicial activism, seemingly motivated by personal vendettas since his [Musharraf's] return to Pakistan to participate in the upcoming elections, will cease and the Supreme Court, without prejudice, will immediately grant necessary relief following precedence and the Rule of Law; the absence of which will cause mockery of the nation," the statement read.
Human rights activists criticized the former military ruler's escape from court premises on Thursday. Human Rights Watch (HRW) observed that the act underscored "his disregard for due legal process and indicates his assumption that as a former army chief and military dictator he can evade accountability for abuses".
HRW urged that Musharraf be held accountable for abuses and reaffirmed that a fair trial for the former military ruler is key to ending impunity for abuses by Pakistan's security forces.
Musharraf appears to be trapped in several court cases. Five petitions have been filed seeking his trial under Article 6 of the Constitution for imposing the state of emergency in November 2007. The petitioners contended that not only Musharraf but his collaborators should also be charged under the High Treason (Punishment) Act.
A trial in the court is bound to open the Pandora's Box, but the court seems to be ready to ensure justice is seen to be done at all costs. The trial will bring into the open the names of the serving military generals including army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kiani and others who collaborated with Musharraf in overthrowing the elected government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999 and in imposing emergency rule in 2007.
Musharraf faces a hostile legal community, with many lawyers having scores to settle. A group of lawyers chanted slogans against Musharraf when he reached Sindh High court in Karachi on March 29 to extend his bail on charges of conspiracy to murder and sacking judges. A protesting lawyer threw a shoe at Musharraf as he walked to a court room, but missed.
The lawyers previously ran countrywide movement for the restoration of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Chaudhry Iftikhar who was sacked by Musharraf government in March 2007. The lawyers' movement was handled with an iron hand and many lawyers were arrested and beaten up by the police.
A trial may bring the military and judiciary on a collision course as senior officers will be reluctant to see their former army chief tried, humiliated and punished by court proceedings. Any tussle between the army and the judiciary may plunge the country into a political and constitutional crisis in the run up to the May 11 polls.
The Express Tribune commented,
The situation adds to the many pre-poll complications we are facing. Technically perhaps, the government should be acting to enforce court orders. But the main role of the caretaker set-up is to conduct elections. Getting embroiled in matters such as the Musharraf affair would hamper it. We do not quite know if other factors are involved. In our country, with its history of military rule, the arrest of a former army chief is no ordinary issue. Talk of intervention from foreign powers is also circulating in Islamabad where rumors fly at the speed of light, with General (retd) Musharraf now in a very different position from that he occupied till 2008 as head of state. The repercussions from the latest chain of events will soon become clear.
Should it be successful at bringing Musharraf to trial, the court would be setting a precedent that a military dictator who dislodged a democratic system by violating the constitution would be tried for high treason and duly punished. That result, however, seems unbelievable in a country where the powerful military has up to now called the shots and dismissed elected governments and judges.
Syed Fazl-e-Haider ( www.syedfazlehaider.com ) is a development analyst in Pakistan. He is the author of many books, including The Economic Development of Balochistan, published in May 2004. E-mail, sfazlehaider05@yahoo.com
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