Tough times lying ahead of former president Pervez Musharraf

The strings have been getting tight around former president Pervez Musharraf, as the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday issued a notice summoning him in the May 12, 2007, Karachi bloodshed case.

The court ordered the authorities concerned that the summon notice be printed in London’s newspapers, adjourning the hearing of the case by April 3. Furthermore, the SHC also directed that an application to form a larger bench be sent to the Sindh High Court Chief Justice Musheer Alam for hearing.

At least 50 people were killed on May 12, 2007, as political activists fought pitched battles on streets of the metropolis city ahead of the chief justice’s coming.

The then dysfunctional chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on that day was scheduled to address the silver jubilee celebrations of the Sindh High Court Bar Association and all parties in the opposition, including the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Jamat-e-Islami (JI) and Awami National Party (ANP) organized a rally in his support to escort him to the venue.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the ally party of the government in the centre and provincial assembly, also took a vying rally. The roads leading to Sindh High Court and were blocked by shipping containers.

A group of gun-toting goons, wearing white shirts and caps maltreated lawyers and journalists across the city. Then Chief Justice of the SHC and other senior judges were not allowed entering the court’s premises by these armed.

The most horrifying incident had taken place at Tahir Plaza, where six charred bodies including those of two women were recovered. The police had said that the six bodies were of lawyers. The rioters had also torched around 100 vehicles in different parts of the metropolis.

Several petitions, including a suo moto one, were filed but the proceedings were dropped during the interim set-up after Musharraf proclaimed an emergency and suspended the constitution. After Musharraf left, applications for the restoration of the petitions and proceedings were filed.

On Tuesday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik while briefing the Sindh Assembly on the investigation into former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassination also said that Musharraf would be brought back to the country to face trial.

He further said that a number of notices had been served on the former dictator through the high commission in London and now the court would issue red warrants to Interpol to seek his deportation and return to Pakistan.

However, Musharraf denied the allegations about his involvement in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Feb 24 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.