Former president Pervez Musharraf has said he felt a little “insulted and humiliated” standing before a judge in a Karachi court, where he appeared to seek extension of his pre-arrest bail in a series of cases.
“This is the first time that I ever entered a courtroom in my life. If I was to be very frank with you on my feelings, if you want to know my feelings, the first feeling when I stand up for the judge when he entered which was the norm, the norm which I had to follow, I did feel somehow a little insulted, a little humiliated,” Musharraf told CNN.
“But then I started thinking to myself that I have been saying that everyone is equal in the eyes of law. So I thought to myself, well, I have been saying this. The law applies to me also,” said the former military ruler.
Asked if he trusted the judicial system, Musharraf said “one has to face all the consequences”.
“I know… my conviction is that there is nothing against me. And there were arrest warrants that were issued, for my non-appearance in the court,” he said.
“Now when I appeared in the court, there shouldn’t be a reason for my arrest. And we should proceed with the cases. As far as the cases are concerned, they are politicised and there’s nothing against me. From any point of view, there is nothing against me. So therefore, with that conviction, I’ll face the courts,” he said.
Musharraf told CNN he never saw a bystander hurl a shoe at him as he headed into a Karachi court on Friday to seek a bail extension on charges of corruption.
“I didn’t even see it. There was nothing that hit me. Later on, I was told that somebody hurled something. But nothing of that sort was visible,” he said.
“I was also told that there were hundreds of people who are my supporters. I think later on I was told that the man was really overpowered and he got a thorough beating or something. But I don’t know who threw what. I didn’t know at all,” he said.
Musharraf said he had been living under threats of death since September 11, 2001, when he supported the American war on terror and targeted the Taliban.
“I’ve been suffering from this threat all along,” he said.
