ISLAMABAD: Former president retired Gen Prevez Musharraf has expressed his willingness to return to the country to face pending cases if he is provided foolproof security.

Talking to Dawn, Akhtar Shah, the counsel for Gen Musharraf in the judges’ detention case, said the former army chief was ready to come back but his journey to Pakistan was linked to the advice of his physicians and the security situation.

He claimed that Gen Musharraf had been facing death threats from about three dozen terrorist groups and had survived many attempts on his life, including the two near the Army House in 2003.

“I spoke to him and conveyed to him that courts are summoning him in different cases, and in response, he [Gen Musharraf] said he is ready to face all the cases instituted against him with mala fide intentions,” the counsel said.

Gen Musharraf, through Advocate Shah, also moved an application before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Friday seeking an order for the authorities concerned to provide foolproof security for his appearance in the judges’ detention case.

ATC judge Sohail Ikram issued a notice to the inspector general of police and the secretary of the interior ministry to seek their comments on the application. The court, however, observed that the respondent authorities were responsible for the safety and security of every citizen, including Gen Musharraf.

The hearing was adjourned till Feb 9.

The ATC had on Dec 8 directed police to initiate proclamation proceedings against Gen Musharraf for his continuous non-appearance before the court.

Non-bailabale arrest warrants for Gen Musharraf have already been issued in the case and his failure to appear in court may lead him to becoming a proclaimed offender.

In the application, Advocate Shah said that without prejudice to other remedies and relief available to the petitioner under the law, the former president intended to appear before the court if the authorities provided him adequate security.

Expressing concern over the security situation in the country, he said serious security threats to Gen Musharraf had increased manifold.

The application cited militant attacks on the district courts of Islamabad in March 2014 and on Quetta’s Civil Hospital in August 2016 in which scores of lawyers were killed.

Advocate Shah argued that under the prevailing circumstances and due to security and medical reasons, “it is neither safe nor advisable for Gen Musharraf to appear in person” before the court. He said the former president was under constant watch and treatment by doctors and had been “advised not to travel till his health improves”.

Gen Musharraf left the country after the interior ministry removed his name from the Exit Control List in March last year.

Besides the judges’ detention case, the former military ruler is the key accused in the high treason case for imposing the emergency in the country on Nov 3, 2007, as well as the Benazir Bhutto, Akbar Khan Bugti and Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi murder cases.

Special public prosecutor Aamir Nadeem Tabish previously informed the court that the interior ministry had in 2013 submitted that security would be provided to Gen Musharraf if he was ready to appear before the court. Gen Musharraf had then submitted a new application to avoid appearing before the court, he added.

Being a fugitive of the law, Mr Tabish argued, Gen Musharraf could neither seek any relief nor could any lawyer represent him unless the accused surrendered to the court.

The judges’ detention case registered with the Secretariat Police Station on Aug 11, 2009, by Advocate Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam Ghumman had sought legal proceedings against the former military ruler for detaining 60 judges of the superior courts for over five months at their homes and restraining them from administering justice.

The judges, including former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, were detained after the proclamation of state of emergency in the country. However, not a single judge testified before the ATC that he was detained at home on the order of Gen Musharraf. Subsequently, the prosecution is relying on the statements of lawyers and private persons to prove its case.

Published in Dawn January 14th, 2017