Daily Times

The interior secretary Wednesday informed a special court that Interpol had rejected a request by Pakistan for the arrest of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, a private TV channel reported.

On August 20, the special court had summoned the interior secretary over non-arrest of Musharraf in a high treason case despite issue of non-bailable warrants against him. The interior secretary appeared before a two-judge bench headed by Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Yawar Ali and including Justice Nazar Akbar of the Sindh High Court (SHC) which heard the high treason case against Musharraf.

“The government had approached the Interpol to bring back Musharraf, however, they rejected our request,” the interior secretary said. “Interpol officials said that the high treason case does not fall under their legal ambit,” he added. To this, the court asked the interior secretary to submit Interpol’s reply. Justice Yawar questioned if Musharraf’s statement under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the case can be recorded via Skype. “Can the investigation move forward without the statement in the case?” he asked. Adjourning the case till September 10, the court ordered that during the next hearing, arguments be given over whether Musharraf’s statement can be recorded via Skype or the investigations can move forward without it.

In April, the former Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had submitted an application in the court, requesting it to conclude the trial without waiting for the personal appearance of Musharraf, who has been living in UAE since 2016, and pronounce a judgment on the basis of available records. The application said the high treason proceedings are covered by the provision of a special law, which lays down the entire manner of regulating proceedings of those who are present and of those who choose to stay away from the court.

Published in Daily Times, August 30^th 2018.