ISALAMABAD, July 12: Former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf may have to face another murder case as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has ordered police to register an FIR against him in connection with the killing of Ghazi Abdur Rasheed, former cleric of Lal Masjid, and his mother Sahiba Khatoon.

Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi of the IHC disposed of a petition filed by Ghazi Rasheed’s son, Haroon Rasheed, and ordered the Aabpara police to record the petitioner’s statement and register an FIR in accordance with law if there may be a cognizable offence.

Advocate Ilyas Siddiqui, the counsel for Gen Musharraf, said there was no evidence that the former president had directly issued orders for the Lal Masjid operation in 2007.

The petitioner has cited neither members of the federal cabinet of that time, nor the prime minister as respondents.

The Lal Masjid operation was launched after approval of the federal cabinet and if Gen Musharraf had done anything wrong the parliament of that time could have impeached him under Article 47 of the constitution, the counsel argued.

Petitioner Haroon Rashid, through his counsel Advocate Tariq Asad, said his father Ghazi Abdul Rashid and grandmother Sahiba had been killed in the military operation ordered by Gen Musharraf.

The Aabpara police had refused to register an FIR despite repeated attempts.

The petitioner said that according to the report of the Lal Masjid commission, the military operation was carried out on the directives of Gen Musharraf.

About 103 people died in the operation and 400 witnesses testified at the commission.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that heirs of the victims had been filing applications to police and civil authorities from time to time and requesting for registration of cases against people responsible for the killings.

The petitioner said his application under section 22-A for the registration of an FIR had been dismissed by an additional sessions judge with the observation that the petitioner wanted to do it for gaining cheap publicity.

Haroon Rashid said he had lost his father and grandmother in the military operation and the observation of the additional sessions judge was callous and inappropriate.

It may be mentioned that the Lal Masjid commission headed by Justice Shehzado Sheikh of the Federal Shariat Court gave a clean chit to the military leadership and blamed Mr Musharraf, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz and their political allies for the 2007 operation.

Concluded in March this year, the commission report contended that history could not easily digest the notion that the then president, prime minister, members of the cabinet, particularly interior minister, and political parties were not aware of the operation. Hypothetically, even if it was so the political leadership at the helm of affairs could not be absolved of the responsibility, particularly when it carried criminal liability, the report added.

Talking to journalists after court proceedings, the petitioner’s counsel said the reason for not citing former prime minister and his ministers was that it would disturb court proceedings.

Talking to Dawn, the Gen Musharraf’s counsel said seeking legal action against his client had become a fashion.

He pointed out that the chief cleric of Lal Masjid, Abdul Aziz, was facing 27 cases in different courts and the Islamabad administration had launched the operation to establish the writ of the government with the approval of competent authority and requisitioned the army through proper channel.