Musharraf denies judges’ arrest charge in police statement

Hours after former President Pervez Musharraf was arrested for imposing emergency rule in 2007 and placing top judges under house arrest, the police transferred him to the police headquarters in the capital for questioning on Friday, officials said.

Earlier in the morning Musharraf appeared before a court of a local magistrate in Islamabad and formally offered his arrest, his defence lawyer, Qamar Afzal, said.

Police sources said that a four-member investigation team, led by a senior police officer, Idrees Rathore, will question the former President.

The judicial magistrate Abbas Shah granted a two-day transit remand of Musharraf to the police to question him about his action to detain judges after they were restrained from work.

He had also ordered Musharraf’s production before the judge of an anti-terrorism court in the garrison city of Rawalpindi as now several section of terrorism have also been included in cases against him.

Musharraf then left the court room for his home after a brief appearance to fulfill legal requirements.

The police later transferred him to the highly-secured police headquarters where he recorded his statement with the investigators, police sources said.

The former President reportedly recorded his statement before the police investigators and denied issuing any written orders for the detention of the judges and rejected all allegations.

A spokesman for Pervez Musharraf said that the former President will appear before the anti-terrorism court and will reply to all charges against him.

Musharraf’s defence lawyer, Ahmad Raza Kasuri, said that Musharraf has shown respect to the judiciary by personally appearing before the courts. He said now the test of the judiciary has started as to how they deal with the charges against Musharraf.

Musharraf’s home was declared as sub-jail over security concerns following the local court’s verdict of handing over his custody to the police for his interrogation. The authorities had proposed to put Musharraf under house arrest in view of threats to his life.

Taliban militants said last month that they have formed a special squad for attack on Musharraf. They had also released a video, showing a Taliban leader to import training to the militants.

The Islamabad High Court on Thursday ordered Musharraf’s arrest for detaining senior judges when he imposed emergency rule in 2007.

A case had been filed against Musharraf for placing dozens of top judges under house arrest when he imposed emergency rule and suspended the constitution in November 2007. The judges had refused to take oath under his Provincial Constitutional Order.

Musharraf is also facing other legal cases, including treason charges for imposing emergency rule, the 2007 assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto and the killing of a Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006.

Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008, denied all charges and said he will defend himself in courts. He had resigned in August 2008 to avoid impeachment by the parliament and then went into exile.

He returned to Pakistan last month after over four years of self-imposed exile in Britain and the UAE to take part in the May 11 parliamentary elections for his All Pakistan Muslim League party.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Apr 19 2013. 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.