Musharraf calls arrest 'politically motivated'
Former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf criticized allegations against him as "politically motivated" on Friday, following his arrest in a case involving his decision to fire senior judges while he was in power.
Musharraf was arrested a day after he made a dramatic escape from a court in Islamabad on Thursday to avoid being detained. Musharraf fled the Islamabad High Court in a speeding vehicle and holed up in his home on the outskirts of the city after a judge rejected his bail and ordered his arrest.
There were conflicting reports about how Musharraf was arrested on Friday.
Police said they arrested Musharraf overnight from his home and delivered him to a magistrate in Islamabad on Friday morning. But the secretary-general of Musharraf's party, Mohammed Amjad, claimed the former leader surrendered himself before the magistrate.
The magistrate instructed police to keep Musharraf in their custody for two days and then present him before an anti-terrorism court, said one of his lawyers, Malik Qamar Afzal. His legal team is trying to decide what to do next, said Afzal.
Police returned Musharraf to his home on the outskirts of Islamabad, where he is being held under house arrest, said police officer Mohammed Rafique.
"These allegations are politically motivated, and I will fight them in the trial court, where the truth will eventually prevail," Musharraf said on Friday after he was arrested.
Thursday's case before the Islamabad High Court involved Musharraf's decision to dismiss senior judges, including the chief justice of the Supreme Court, when he declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution in 2007. He was concerned the judges would challenge his re-election as president, citing the growing Taliban insurgency in the country as justification for the state of emergency.
An Islamabad High Court judge, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, rejected bail for Musharraf on Thursday and ordered his arrest, according to a copy of the court order. The judge ordered Musharraf to be investigated under an anti-terrorism law, which does not allow bail, the order said.
Siddiqui wrote that Musharraf's "shameful" decision to arrest judges "spread fear in society ... and terror throughout Pakistan".
Musharraf is facing a raft of other legal challenges, including allegations before the Supreme Court that he committed treason while in power. He has not formally been charged with treason because the government would have to file charges, which it has not done.
The Senate passed a unanimous resolution Friday demanding that Musharraf be tried for treason, media reports said.
Musharraf also faces legal charges in two other cases. One involves allegations that Musharraf didn't provide adequate security to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a gunfire and suicide attack in 2007. The other relates to the death of a nationalist leader in Baluchistan in 2006.
(China Daily 04/20/2013 page12)
