Musharraf’s treason case: Police likely to serve arrest warrant on Feb 3

ISLAMABAD: Police officials in the federal capital confirmed on Saturday to have received a bailable arrest warrant for ex-military ruler Pervez Musharraf and said the warrant might be served on Monday. A special court constituted to try Musharraf for high treason had issued a warrant on Friday. The court had also ordered the Islamabad police to submit a compliance report to the court on February 7. Since the start of the trial, Musharraf has not appeared before the court. The proceedings against him started late December last year. The 70-year-old retired general is currently hospitalised at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) in Rawalpindi. He was rushed to the AFIC and admitted there exactly a month ago, after he complained of chest pain en route to the court. Inspector General of Islamabad Police Sikandar Hayat confirmed to The Express Tribune that police have received the bailable arrest warrant from the court. Hayat said a police officer from the force will now serve the warrant to Musharraf. “He will be given two options: either to be arrested or to submit a surety bond for his bail,” the police chief said. The bond set by the special court for Musharraf’s pre-arrest bail is Rs2.5 million. Islamabad police officials said the former president, who first came to power in a military coup in 1999, could be served the warrant on the weekend. But it is likely that the police will wait till Monday to carry out the action as police have a week to report back to the special court, the officials said. If Musharraf is served the warrant at the AFIC in Rawalpindi, then Islamabad police officers will have to be accompanied by Rawalpindi policemen, according to jurisdictional protocol. The three-judge bench rejecting Musharraf’s plea to seek medical treatment abroad on Friday stated that no reasonable excuse was provided to justify Musharraf’s failure to appear before the court. Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2014.