ISLAMABAD
A three-member special court trying Pakistan’s former military leader General Pervez Musharraf for high treason, on Friday rejected his petition for medical treatment in the United States for cardiac illness, and issued bailable arrest warrants against him.
The court headed by Justice Faisal Arab directed the interior ministry officials not to let General Musharraf, who is currently being treated in an armed forces hospital in capital Islamabad, fly abroad observing that the former military ruler’s petition seeking medical treatment in the U.S. was not even maintainable.
Adjourning the hearing till February 7, the court ordered the chief of Islamabad police to serve the arrest warrants to the former army chief in the hospital. However, the accused may avoid arrest in this case by submitting a surety of Rs 2.5 million (25000 dollars).
General Musharraf is facing high treason trial for imposing an emergency in the country, and suspending the constitution on November 3, 2007, an act, which had already been declared as unconstitutional and illegal by the Supreme Court on July 31, 2009.
By Aamir Latif
