By Khalid IqbalSunday, February 20, 2011
RAWALPINDI: The Anti-Terrorist Court No-III judge, Rana Nisar Ahmed, on Saturday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for former President Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case.
The court ordered the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to arrest Musharraf from London and produce him by March 5.
On the last hearing on February 12, the court had issued arrest warrants for the former president at the address of his Chak Shahzad farmhouse in Islamabad.
On Saturday, the JIT told the court that they, along with the arrest warrants, went to the Chak Shahzad farmhouse to arrest Musharraf but a servant there told them that Musharraf lived in London. Due to it, the court took back the arrest warrants and ordered the FIA to provide the address of London where Musharraf was living to send non-bailable arrest warrants at his London address.
The JIT said that they did not have the London address of Musharraf, on which the court ordered to find out London’s address of Musharraf immediately. The JIT told the court that they had contacted the Pakistan High Commissioner in London with a request to get the proper address of Musharraf. The FIA prayed to the court to give time till Monday but the court refused the request and issued non-bailable arrest warrants of Musharraf on the address of (Edgeware Road London, the UK). The court strictly ordered the JIT to find out the proper address of Musharraf in London to deliver non-bailable arrest warrants to him.
In the last hearing, the JIT had presented before the court the fifth interim challan comprising 57 pages, in which the name of the former president was put in the category of accused and declared him an absconder. According to the interim challan of the case, two police officials — former City Police Officer (CPO), Rawalpindi, Saud Aziz, and former SP Rawal Town Khurram Shahzad — were in close contact with Musharraf on the eventful day of December 27, 2007, and both acted according to the directives of the then president.
On February 12, during the trial in Adiala Jail, the JIT of FIA presented the statements of former Intelligence Bureau chief Ijaz Shah and former director general of the Crisis Management Cell of the Ministry of Interior Brig (retd) Javaid Iqbal Cheema with the report.
Sources said that the former IB chief had stated that Musharraf was annoyed with Ms Benazir Bhutto because she was inclined towards political reconciliation. Brig (retd) Cheema informed the investigators that the former president had directed him to arrange a press conference only three hours after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
The JIT told the court that it tried to contact the former president many a time for investigation in the murder case but could not contact him.
“If the former president is not presented in the court on March 5, he would face ‘Red Warrants’ and be declared a proclaimed offender,” the JIT said.
Sources said that Pervez Musharraf was ready for inclusion of his name in Benazir murder case investigation. He was ready to answer all the questions of the JIT.
Online adds: Meanwhile, talking to a private TV channel, Musharraf’s spokesman Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif termed the arrest warrants another “topi drama” and said that the dreams of judges to arrest Musharraf would not be allowed to come true at any cost. He said that they were not bothered whether the arrest warrants for Musharraf were bailable or non-bailable.
He said the FIA was telling a lie that it came to know that Musharraf was abroad only when it reached his (Musharraf) house in Chak Shahzad with his arrest warrants. They were fully aware that Pervez Musharraf was out of the country, he said.
He said that when “we will ensure that the courts are conducting unbiased hearings, then we would appear before the courts”.
The court ordered the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to arrest Musharraf from London and produce him by March 5.
On the last hearing on February 12, the court had issued arrest warrants for the former president at the address of his Chak Shahzad farmhouse in Islamabad.
On Saturday, the JIT told the court that they, along with the arrest warrants, went to the Chak Shahzad farmhouse to arrest Musharraf but a servant there told them that Musharraf lived in London. Due to it, the court took back the arrest warrants and ordered the FIA to provide the address of London where Musharraf was living to send non-bailable arrest warrants at his London address.
The JIT said that they did not have the London address of Musharraf, on which the court ordered to find out London’s address of Musharraf immediately. The JIT told the court that they had contacted the Pakistan High Commissioner in London with a request to get the proper address of Musharraf. The FIA prayed to the court to give time till Monday but the court refused the request and issued non-bailable arrest warrants of Musharraf on the address of (Edgeware Road London, the UK). The court strictly ordered the JIT to find out the proper address of Musharraf in London to deliver non-bailable arrest warrants to him.
In the last hearing, the JIT had presented before the court the fifth interim challan comprising 57 pages, in which the name of the former president was put in the category of accused and declared him an absconder. According to the interim challan of the case, two police officials — former City Police Officer (CPO), Rawalpindi, Saud Aziz, and former SP Rawal Town Khurram Shahzad — were in close contact with Musharraf on the eventful day of December 27, 2007, and both acted according to the directives of the then president.
On February 12, during the trial in Adiala Jail, the JIT of FIA presented the statements of former Intelligence Bureau chief Ijaz Shah and former director general of the Crisis Management Cell of the Ministry of Interior Brig (retd) Javaid Iqbal Cheema with the report.
Sources said that the former IB chief had stated that Musharraf was annoyed with Ms Benazir Bhutto because she was inclined towards political reconciliation. Brig (retd) Cheema informed the investigators that the former president had directed him to arrange a press conference only three hours after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
The JIT told the court that it tried to contact the former president many a time for investigation in the murder case but could not contact him.
“If the former president is not presented in the court on March 5, he would face ‘Red Warrants’ and be declared a proclaimed offender,” the JIT said.
Sources said that Pervez Musharraf was ready for inclusion of his name in Benazir murder case investigation. He was ready to answer all the questions of the JIT.
Online adds: Meanwhile, talking to a private TV channel, Musharraf’s spokesman Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif termed the arrest warrants another “topi drama” and said that the dreams of judges to arrest Musharraf would not be allowed to come true at any cost. He said that they were not bothered whether the arrest warrants for Musharraf were bailable or non-bailable.
He said the FIA was telling a lie that it came to know that Musharraf was abroad only when it reached his (Musharraf) house in Chak Shahzad with his arrest warrants. They were fully aware that Pervez Musharraf was out of the country, he said.
He said that when “we will ensure that the courts are conducting unbiased hearings, then we would appear before the courts”.
(the news international)
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