Daily Times

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed former president Pervez Musharraf to appear before it on June 13, and assured him that he will not be arrested upon his return to the country.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, was hearing an appeal filed by former military ruler Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf against his disqualification for life by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) in 2013.

The court directed Musharraf to appear before the apex court’s Lahore registry on June 13. The court, however, dismissed Musharraf’s plea seeking suspension of his lifetime disqualification.

During the hearing, Qamar Afzal, counsel for Musharraf, requested the court to issue a written order that the former president must not be arrested if he returned to Pakistan. “Tell Musharraf to come to Pakistan”, the chief justice said, adding he will not be arrested upon his arrival. “We will pass an order directing authorities not to arrest the former president before his appearance in the court”, the chief justice said.

Musharraf’s counsel then stated that the deadline was approaching for his client to file his nomination papers. The chief justice said he will ask returning officers to accept Musharraf’s nomination papers, but subject to the final verdict on his appeal.

The PHC had announced lifetime disqualification for the former dictator prior to the 2013 general election. Musharraf then filed an appeal in 2016 in the Supreme Court against the PHC verdict.

He had filed his nomination papers to contest for a National Assembly seat (NA-250) in Karachi (South). The returning officer rejected his nomination papers on grounds that he he had held in abeyance and suspended the Constitution of the country on November 3, 2007, besides detaining and removing a number of superior court judges and publicly insulting then CJP Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Musharraf then filed an appeal in an election tribunal in Karachi which was dismissed on April 16, 2013. The Sindh High Court also upheld the decision of the election tribunal.

Published in Daily Times, June 8^th 2018.