ECL in focus as Musharraf’s mother hospitalised

E-Paper | December 05, 2025

ISLAMABAD: After 95-year-old Zarin Musharraf, mother of the former military ruler, was admitted to the W.W. Wilson Hospital in Sharjah on Saturday, his sympathisers here speeded up efforts for removal of his name from the exit control list (ECL).

According to sources close to Pervez Musharraf, he may go to the UAE to see his ailing mother. The former president was admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) after suffering heart stroke on Jan 1 while going to a special court.The sources said the matter was being taken up with the government and his legal team was examining an order issued by the Sindh High Court (SHC) on his petition on Dec 23.

In the order, the SHC made it clear that placing Gen Musharraf’s name on the ECL “was an act of the federal government” and not consequent to a directive “of this court”.

The SHC rejected Gen Musharraf’s petition and observed that the Supreme Court in its order of April 8 last year had asked the interior secretary and the inspectors general of police of the four provinces to ensure that if his name was not on the ECL, “this shall be done forthwith”.

The special court rejected on Jan 31 a petition seeking cardiac treatment of Gen Musharraf abroad, saying “it does not possess power of judicial review of administrative actions as available to the high court”. “The jurisdiction of special court is confined to within the limits prescribed under the High Treason Punishment Act 1973 and Criminal Law Amendment (Special) Act of 1976.”

On Jan 5, Gen Musharraf’s wife Sehba submitted an application to the interior ministry for allowing him to undergo treatment abroad, but the ministry rejected the plea.

Faisal Hussain, counsel for Gen Musharraf, told Dawn that the ministry had rejected the application and the matter had again been brought before the special court.

However, Mohammad Ali Saif, another lawyer of Gen Musharraf, said he was considering filing a plea for ‘revision’ before the secretary. “We are considering the option of contacting the federal government in this regard.”

But serving a warrant on Gen Musharraf for his indictment in the high treason case on Monday also depends on permission by doctors treating him in the AFIC to leave the hospital for the court hearing.

The court issued a warrant for Gen Musharraf on March 14 and asked the Islamabad police to execute it. It asked the government to present him on March 31 after arresting him if he refused to appear before the court to face indictment in the high treason case.

Some officials believe that in case of refusal by the AFIC doctors to allow the former president to travel to the court, police could arrest him and detain him in the hospital till further orders.

According to police officials, a team constituted for the purpose will go to the AFIC on Monday morning, along with the SHO of Rawalpindi’s RA Bazaar police station, and serve the warrant.

If the doctors refuse to allow the police to take him to the court, they would have to issue a certificate describing Gen Musharraf’s health condition and advising that he is unable to travel, the officials added.

Newspaper

Malik Asad is an Islamabad-based reporter for Dawn with two decades of experience covering legal affairs, judicial developments, and the civil bureaucracy. He can be found on X at @asadrp.

PM offers special plane to bring home Musharraf's ailing mother

SHC disposes of plea to strike Musharraf's name off ECL

Husain Jan

Mar 30, 2014 08:38am

Why would the AFIC doctors mind to issue a certificate that Mush is unable to travel OR unable to bear the stress of facing charges in the court.

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event horizon

Mar 30, 2014 08:40am

Please let him leave the country. Then he should never come back and allow the present rulers to make a mockery of justice (pure, personal vendetta masked in the name of trial) by the present emperors. Enough of propaganda. If Musharraf is not tried for murder of Akbar Bugti and assisting in murder of Benazir, then it makes no sense to try Musharraf for removing the judges who were his cronies all the time. It was only when Iftikhar Chaudhary's chief-ship was in danger that he stood against Musharraf. Some time ago, he has given Musharraf the right to amend the Constitution as well and rule with impunity. It is sad that the lawyers movement was successful in getting the judges restored. It is even sad that the whole episode was a farce as the judges after restoration did more damage than good to the nation.

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Husain Jan

Mar 30, 2014 08:42am

The govt / interior minister's offer to bring the ailing mother to Pakistan by an Air Ambulance was totally ignored with no reply at all. Why ? Simply because their only desire is to let Mush go abroad, on the pretext of his own health or health of his mother.

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Adnan

Mar 30, 2014 09:06am

How will a person, who is not well enough to appear in court and is staying in a hospital, will be well enough to travel to Dubai? If you are innocent than you have nothing to worry about.

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Ahmed

Mar 30, 2014 09:25am

How many of the 800 individuals whom Musharraf proudly admits in his self-serving book to have "disappeared" without due process got a chance to say good bye to their mothers? How many of the 60,000 people killed by terrorists who found safe haven in Pakistan under Musharraf go the chance to say good bye to their mothers?

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Asif Habib

Mar 30, 2014 09:38am

Sure he's not well enough to travel to the courts, but if cleared by ECL,he's well enough to leave the country. Shame!

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Asad

Mar 30, 2014 09:43am

Definately he should be allowed to see his mother because the case against him is only politically motivated and not to any benefit of Pakistan. May Allah bless Gen. Musharaf's mother health Gen. Musharaf is a person who along with Dr. Atta ur Rehman has put Pakistan on a direction of progress in modern sciences. All modern infrastructure were introduced in Pakistan in his period and also due to consistent growth in economic sector standard of living of people also got better. And above all he never compromised on state writ. This is for what Gen should be remembered instead of a political mandated propaganda against him.

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M. Saeed Awan

Mar 30, 2014 10:05am

His name from ECL should not be removed at any cost. If Sharif family can stay away why not he. Further once he skipped then won't come back.

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Asad

Mar 30, 2014 11:17am

@Adnan: When somebody's mother is ill he can travel dispite of any diesease and that is natural.

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SYEDA SARA BATOOL

Mar 30, 2014 11:54am

let him go nawaz sharif,,,,,this is not right time to take revenge have patience.i think musharaf almost all decisions were right according to wrong conditions....

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sabeeh omer

Mar 30, 2014 12:04pm

Shift his ailing mother from a Sharjah hospital to a hospital in Pakistan. There is no dearth of reputable hospitals and world renowned consultants in a country Musharraf claims to have served for over four decades. Simple!

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Khalid

Mar 30, 2014 12:58pm

He is not in the hospital, in fact he is hiding in an army bunker and in this way army doctors are creating a bad impression for them. in my opinion he is not admitted in the hospital but he has got room on rent to live in. In which part of the world any hospital is keeping an patient without any treatment/procedure for three months except coma patients. At this stage if the hospital will issue a certificate that he can not travel to court, it will be against the medical ethics and doctors issuing such certificate should be punished by Pakistan Medical Council. I being doctor should suggest that court should appoint non-army based medical board to examine. This is a disgrace to the doctors community.

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Amir Bangash

Mar 30, 2014 01:27pm

Great injustice, what else I can say.

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Abdulla Hussain

Mar 30, 2014 03:29pm

Nawaz Sharif should well understand the fall out of his revenge against Musharraf. Even if Musharraf is awarded death penalty close friendly countries can easily pressurise Nawaz Sharif to let Musharraf go as it happened in his own case. Later Musharraf will return much, much stronger. The present gov't is running on a very slippery slope as far as Musharraf's case is concerned. Musharraf cannot be punished at will, he is no ordinary man.

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Akram

Mar 30, 2014 05:27pm

Musharraf has tried every excuse not to face the courts, from the surprising to the absolutely absurd (Council Ijaz's allegation that the judge has told the Taliban to threaten him). The very fact he has tried so hard to dodge justice, shows his guilt. If you truly believe you were right why run away? There is no smoke without a fire.

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mohammad shafique

Mar 30, 2014 05:33pm

this farce has gone on too long.......it is time to drag musharraf out of his hospital bed and into the court to face charges without further delay.

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KAlam

Mar 30, 2014 05:45pm

Judiciary as an institution should not be part of dirty politics as it will bring disrepute and make it controversial.

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khanm

Mar 30, 2014 06:16pm

People like to say that the conflict is between good and evil. The real conflict is between truth and lies. Unfortunately in our justice system the evil always prevails.. I have not trust in our justice system. Fairness is what justice really is. In Musharaf case I seriously doubt it. We the citizen can request our prime minister and the judiciary to let him go. Let him leave so you can live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you

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S. A. M.

Mar 30, 2014 07:21pm

@Husain Jan: how rude. you want an ailing 95 year old lady to leave her bed in hospital to be brought by air to pakistan where taliban are waiting to kill Musharraf or any member of his family. What if, God forbid, something happens to her enroute. Who would be responsible? Who would be able to give guarantee that nothing would happen to her? Could you please put yourself in his place. Had you been in Musharraf's place facing all the adversaries would you have brought any of your family member to pakistan. won't you have told your family members to fly out from pakistan out of the reach of talibans?

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M F Bilal

Mar 30, 2014 07:48pm

@M. Saeed Awan: you all were saying the same thing and he came back. You will see it again . There is a difference between paper tiger and original one

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S. A. M.

Mar 30, 2014 08:18pm

@Khalid: you have to look at things in totality. Musharraf's era may be you might have forgotten but let me remind you that his tenure has been the most promising in the last 2 decades. can you draw a comparison between the govt's of pml n and that of ppp. what they have done so far. what sort of name you have gained in the world. you may not have noticed that pakistan is being treated as a bunch paid militants for anyone who has a heavy pocket. When Musharraf is not coming to the court that is because of real threats to his life. Being brave is one thing and being stupid is another. would you be happy if he gets killed by taliban while attending the court proceedings. don't you think you have been quite impertuous in calling him a coward. He is the only one who dared to look right into the eyes of the devil.

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Adil Farooq

Mar 30, 2014 09:03pm

To err is human, to forgive is divine

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Harbhajan

Mar 30, 2014 09:48pm

Gen.Mush has tried every trick in the book to avoid facing the court in Pakistan. He must be cursing the day he decided to fly back to Pakistan in view of his treatment to Shariff. Face the court like a man Mush.

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husainmirza

Mar 30, 2014 10:39pm

The case is cooked up by Iftikhar Chaudry and Nawaz Sharif. What Musharraf did was good for the country. His government performance vs PPP and PML-N is very clear. Musharraf any time better than PML-N.

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Muhammad Farooq

Mar 31, 2014 01:23am

So every one is not equal in the eye of law. Bad equation in a democracy!

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Muhammad Farooq

Mar 31, 2014 01:41am

@Adil Farooq: i agree we better close down all courts.

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Asif

Mar 31, 2014 02:06am

@Adnan: Dude, wake-up - you live in a country... where corrupt politicians run and the mockery for the country (everyone in current power are criminals, looters and liars). This nothing but vendetta of Sharif brothers (Sharif's, only in name)

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Asif

Mar 31, 2014 02:23am

@husainmirza: record and progress shows, Pres. Musharraf was the best leader in years for Pakistan - What he did b/w 99 & 08, has not be replicated by any of the PPP/PML-N governments . These governments came back to loot the country, first Mr. 15% for 5 years and now these two idiots (two sharif brothers). The case against Pres. Musharraf, is all cooked up by Iftikhar & sharif (only in name). The current so-called leaders and justice system doesn't have any case or balls to convict the great leader (pres. Musharraf)

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Adil Farooq

Mar 31, 2014 03:59am

@Muhammad Farooq: We might as well shut down all the courts. It's not as if they are serving their purpose in the first place.

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PeaceMonger

Mar 31, 2014 06:53am

Whichever way the trial turns out, it presents Pakistan in very poor light. The commando who displayed so much bravado is now cowering from the courts. Does he seriously believe he'll serve any time?

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Dilawer

Mar 31, 2014 07:39am

@mohammad shafique: How about: Reversing the amnesty granted to over 8000 criminals including now PM, ex-President and so many others by the NRO signed under Musharraf. Since all he did was wrong and unconstitutional, that should include the NRO. Which should lead to trials for all those criminals or accused of crimes committed against the country, etc. In all fairness let it be so.

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Mansoor Mahesar

Mar 31, 2014 08:05am

I wish her the best of luck and pray for her that allah pak make her happy and inshallah she will become healthy soon.

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Alt..

Mar 31, 2014 02:25pm

Hand picked judges, special court, one point agenda, totally biased and politically motivated behavior of government and "Judiciary". Hail Justice. ! The top judge himself took oath under him.."That's all right" Wake up people who think this actually is justice...open your eyes !

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Ishrat

Apr 01, 2014 03:24am

Pakistan zindabad. Question : If Musharraf was so ill, that he was not willing to travel a short distance to the court, suddenly how could he fly to another country hundreds of kilometres away ? Commando - zindabhag.

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muhammad

Apr 01, 2014 03:06pm

@M. Saeed Awan: Musharraf is a brave man he went out of country of his own and he came back to his homeland of his own free will and he has not looted public money as yours favorite politicians did or doing right now all the cases registered against him are politically motivated therefore it is not important whether he come back or not becuase he does not owe public money neither he gave undue favour to his relatives but we pray that he may visit his ailling mother and come back to serve this poor country again as we need leader like him

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SachBol

Apr 02, 2014 08:27am

What a hypocrisy......Gen Ayub and Gen Zia are patriots and Gen Musharraf is traitor? Among these, Gen Musharraf is much more honest and done lot more for the country....forget about these corrupt politicians. No doubt Pakistan is in this mess because people of Pakistan are divided in linguistic politics and keep on choosing and supporting these corrupt politicians and parties.

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gerry d'cunha

Apr 02, 2014 11:19pm

muharraf is a man of principle, he will come back to face his trial in pakistan after seeing his ailing mother, there is 100% no doubt with this man's honesty and intrigity

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