ISLAMABAD: Speculations are rife that former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf is likely to leave the country after a special aircraft of a Gulf country was spotted at the Noor Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi, DawnNews reported on late Monday night.

Meanwhile his lawyer Senator Farogh Nasim has filed a formal request with the Interior Ministry to allow him to travel abroad.

Earlier in a news conference held after the hearing of the treason case, Senator Nasim said that the special court has already clarified that Musharraf is not under the court’s custody and he is free to move.

Rumours began circulating about the former dictator’s departure the moment news of his illness last week and subsequent admission in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) came out on Sunday night.

Musharraf’s condition deteriorated due to high stress after his elderly mother was admitted to a hospital in Sharjah last week.

Earlier on Monday, a special court constituted to try former military dictator for high treason indicted him but at the same time granted Musharraf exemption from appearing in the hearings.

The court said that accused could be ordered to appear in court whenever required and adjourned the hearing to April 15.

However, the court added that removal of Musharraf's name from the exit control list was not its prerogative as it had not ordered for the inclusion of his name in the list.

The decision also meant that it was up to the government to allow or deny the request put forward by the former president to be allowed to travel abroad to meet his ailing mother.