ISLAMABAD: Former president Pervez Musharraf’s prolonged stay abroad may cost ex-director general Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Rashid Qureshi his house in the capital city.

Retired Maj Gen Rashid Qureshi was the guarantor of the former president in the high treason case. In February 2014, after the special court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Musharraf, Gen Qureshi submitted surety bonds to enable his former boss to get bail.

The court accepted the bail plea against the submission of Rs2.5 million surety bonds. Gen Qureshi had promised that the former president would appear before the court and pledged his house worth Rs50 million in Sector E-11 as a surety.

However, during the proceedings on Thursday, Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, the head of the three-judge special court, observed: “Musharraf left the country without recording his statement under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code, hence the court can confiscate the surety.”

In other words, the court warned that the property Gen Qureshi had pledged along with the surety bonds could be confiscated in case Gen Musharraf remained absent from the proceedings in future.

The court also issued a show-cause notice to Gen Qureshi asking him to file a reply before the next date of proceedings on April 19.

Gen Qureshi told Dawn that he had pledged his house but now wanted to substitute the surety.

He said he was ready to submit prize bonds worth Rs2.5 million to release the document of his house. The special court would take up Gen Qureshi’s application on April 19.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2016