Musharraf granted bail in judges’ detention case

Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted bail to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in the judges’ detention case.
The former military chief, who ruled the country for nearly a decade, was given bail against surety bonds worth Rs 500,000.
In this particular case, Musharraf was accused of passing an order to detain judges of superior courts at their homes after imposing an emergency rule on November 3, 2007.
A divisional bench of the IHC comprising Justice Noorul Qureshi and Justice Riaz Ahmed Khan heard the bail plea of the accused. The counsel for Musharraf, Ilyas Siddiqui, pleaded that his client never ordered the detention of judges.
He said there was no concrete evidence against Musharraf which could establish that he had passed any detention orders. Musharraf’s lawyers further submitted that their client could not be detained solely on the basis of media reports, arguing therefore that their client be granted bail. The case was registered against Musharraf on August 11, 2009 on the complaint of a local lawyer Chaudhry Aslam Ghumman, for confining over 60 judges of the superior courts after imposing emergency. However, Ghumman had later announced he would not pursue the case citing what according to him was “the larger public interest”.
After hearing arguments from the public prosecutor who was arguing against the grant of bail, the court decided in favour of Musharraf.
However, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta on Tuesday rejected a bail plea by former president Pervez Musharraf in the Akbar Bugti murder case.
ATC Judge Mohammad Ismail announced the decision after completion of arguments by the applicant’s counsel Mohammad Ilyas.
The ATC issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Musharraf, former premier Shaukat Aziz, former governor Owais Ghani and former Dera Bugti deputy commissioner Abdul Samad Lasi after they failed to appear before the court.
Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, head of Balochistan’s Bugti tribe, was killed in a cave in Kohlu, about 150 miles east of Quetta, during the reign of former president Pervez Musharraf.