Pakistan’s Special court rejected Pervez Musharraf’s plea

Islamabad: A special court Friday rejected the prosecution’s plea to order the ‘symbolic arrest’ of the Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.
The court said it had been informed by authorities that Musharraf was barred from travelling out of the country as he was included in the Interior Ministry’s Exit Control List. The court on Thursday ordered a medical board to assess the former dictator’s health condition and exempted him from personal appearances till January 23.

The board comprising senior doctors of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi was asked to ascertain Musharraf’s medical condition and submit its findings on January 24.

The decision came hours after Musharraf’s legal team submitted a letter written by his US-based doctor Arjumand Hashmi, which said the former President should be sent to a facility in Texas for treatment.
Musharraf was taken to the military hospital on January 2 after he developed heart problems while being driven to the special court.

The former military strongman had missed all hearings in his case because of bomb threats and health scare and there has been speculation that he would be allowed to leave Pakistan for medical treatment.

This is the first time in Pakistan’s history that a former general has been put on trial for treason. If convicted, he could be given life imprisonment or death penalty.