ISLAMABAD: A special court constituted to try former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf for high treason charges has rejected his application seeking permission for medical treatment outside Pakistan and has summoned him on Feb 7, DawnNews reported.
The 70-year-old is facing treason charges over his imposition of a state of emergency in 2007 while he was president.
Musharraf has been in a military hospital since falling ill with heart trouble while travelling to the special treason tribunal on Jan 2 and his lawyers had argued he needed specialist treatment abroad.
The former general's name is on the official “exit control list”, meaning he cannot leave Pakistan.
Earlier today, a three-member special court, headed by Justice Faisal Arab, had reserved its decision on the medical report of the former president.
While announcing its decision, the court also issued a bailable arrest warrant against the ex-army strongman. The bail bond was fixed at Rs 2.5 million.
Reading out its decision, the court said Musharraf's medical report submitted by doctors did not state anywhere that he could not appear before it, adding that there was no choice but to issue a bailable arrest warrant against him.
The court rejected Musharraf's application seeking consent for medical treatment overseas and ruled that his application was inadmissible.
“It is not in the jurisdiction of this court to allow him to go abroad for treatment, because his name is on the exit control list,” the order read by a court official said.
It, however, said there would be no restriction on the former president's movement, but warned that if he failed to appear before the court in its next hearing, then a non-bailable arrest warrant would be issued against him.
The court moreover ordered the Inspector General (IG) of Islamabad to ensure that Musharraf complied with the warrant against him and guarantee his appearance in its next hearing.
It ordered Musharraf's production on Feb 7 and subsequently adjourned the hearing to the said date.