Accusing Justice Shaukat Siddiqui of being a strong supporter of the religious political party, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan as well as leading lawyers from Rawalpindi in the campaign against Pervez Musharraf during his tenure, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) on Thursday said an application for the bail of the former president would be re-logged in the Supreme Court today (Friday).
Addressing a news conference – flanked by APML Additional Secretary General Chaudhry Shafique, and APML Information Secretary Aasia Ishaq –the party’s Islamabad President Dr Amjad criticised Justice Siddiqui for his alleged biased decision against Musharraf.
The Islamabad High Court, led by Justice Siddique, on Thursday ordered the arrest of the former president, however, Musharraf’s security convoy safely shifted him to his farmhouse.
Dr Amjad clarified that Musharraf never passed any orders for the detention or house arrest of the judiciary during his tenure and the judges were free to move.
“All allegations in this connection against Musharraf are wrong and a deliberate attempt to distort the facts and this has already been proven by our lawyers during the hearing this morning,” Dr Amjad added.
Elaborating, Amjad said despite finding no answer to the arguments presented by lawyers leading the case for Musharraf, the judge ordered his arrest under the anti-terrorism act, which itself was not part of the case.
Accusing Justice Siddiqui of being a supporter of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Dr Amjad said the judge did this because of his loyalty and active support for the JI.
“Siddiqui was also leading lawyers from the Rawalpindi Bar Association actively during Musharraf’s era to carry out rallies against the former military chief and the president of the country,” he said.
To a question, he rejected the impression created by the media that Musharraf had escaped from the court, saying Musharraf did not leave the jurisdiction of the Islamabad High Court and no police official or staff tried to arrest him, however, seeing the aggressive attitude of the lawyers, his security staff escorted him for protection.
“Musharraf neither escaped in the past nor will he escape in the future. He is a brave man and brave men never escape,” the APML leader said.
To another query, Amjad said Justice Shaukat rejected the plea by Musharraf’s lawyers and permitted two lawyers, who were not part of the issue, to speak against Musharraf without any reason.
“We expect that Supreme Court of Pakistan to provide us justice, as it’s the last ray of light for the APML. The offence by Musharraf is bail-able as well,” Amjad said.
Elaborating on his party’s strategy, the APML leader said he would apply for a pre-arrest bail for Musharraf on Friday (today), and if Musharraf was taken into custody, he would go for a post-arrest bail plea for the APML chief.