Judges’ detention case: ATC rejects Musharraf’s bail plea

The anti-terrorism court in Islamabad on Wednesday rejected a bail plea filed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in the judges’ detention case.

Earlier, ATC judge Kausar Abbas Zaidi had reserved the ruling on Musharraf’s bail application during a hearing of the case.

During the hearing, public prosecutor Amir Nadeem Tabish said clause 780-A pertaining to terrorism had been added to the list of charges against Musharraf, making the case against him stronger.

In his arguments, Tabish added that judges and their family members had been detained in their homes for months, their children not allowed to appear in examinations and the charges against the former army strongman were of a serious nature, who, therefore, should not be granted bail.

He further said the emergency imposed by Musharraf in the country on November 3, 2007 was detrimental not only towards the judges but for the public at large.

However, Musharraf’s counsel Ilyas Siddiqui claimed that his client never gave the order to detain judges, adding that there was no proof against him.

Tabish told the judge that he had been appointed public prosecutor in the case only until the court’s ruling on Musharraf’s bail plea, adding that he had no authority to present a charge sheet in the case.

To this, the judge expressed his amazement and asked how was it possible that one public prosecutor was appointed for Musharraf’s bail plea and another to press charges against him.

Subsequently, the judge inquired of the investigation officer when would the charge sheet against the former military ruler be finalised.

The officer said three institutions had been approached in this respect, however, all had so far failed to submit their response.

The court reserved its ruling on the bail plea after the parties concluded their arguments and subsequently discarded the former president’s application.

On the other hand, the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court sent an order to jail authorities for releasing former President Pervez Musharraf on bail in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

ATC Special Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman accepted the application of Barrister Salman Safdar, lawyer of Pervez Musharraf, in which he said his client wanted to deposit two million rupees cash instead of surety bond.

After the permission granted by the court, the lawyer submitted the National Bank’s deposit receipt of Rs 2,000,000, whereas the guarantor of Musharraf, Mumtaz Hussain, accepted the responsibility of guarantee.