Pakistan police book Musharraf

PAKISTAN: Pakistan Tuesday registered a criminal case against Pervez Musharraf, a precursor to potentially putting the ex-president on trial over his 2007 detention of judges as he attempted to cling to power.

Musharraf imposed a state of emergency and sacked about 60 judges on November 3, 2007 when the supreme court appeared poised to declare him ineligible to contest a presidential election while in military uniform.

On a plea filed by lawyer Mohammad Aslam Ghuman, Islamabad district and sessions judge Mohammad Akmal directed police to register a case against Musharraf, who is currently in Europe. “We have registered a case against Pervez Musharraf under Pakistan’s Penal Code,” Hakim Khan, the chief officer of the relevant police station, told AFP.

The registration of the case will now see police investigate the charges levelled against the former head of state, who seized power in a 1999 coup.

“It is a criminal case,” another police official told AFP. Tuesday’s move comes just weeks after a 14-member bench led by supreme court chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry last month declared Musharraf’s acts illegal when he dismissed top judges and ordered their detention.

Islamabad, Wednesday, AFP