Pressure to make Musharraf, Imran appear before courts

ISLAMABAD: Pressure is piling up on authorities to take legal action to ensure the attendance of two proclaimed absconders — Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan — before relevant courts in the wake of repeated appearances of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members in the Islamabad accountability court.

Since Musharraf and Imran Khan are archrivals of the former prime minister, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ministers and leaders are constantly mocking and taunting them for circumventing the judicial course. But the accused are unmoved.

The concerned courts have repeatedly issued perpetual arrest warrants for Musharraf and Imran Khan. However, they have no plan to bow before the orders of the Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATC) of Rawalpindi and Islamabad in serious criminal cases, which are dragging due to their failure to show up.

If they are deliberately jumping the judicial route, government authorities have not picked up the courage to use available legal means to ensure their appearance before the courts. The police will take Imran Khan into custody within no time, the moment the central government takes a decision to implement the ATC’s direction.

In Imran Khan’s case, it is for the Islamabad Police, which are under the federal government, to arrest him and present him before the ATC. In Musharraf’s case, it is another central organization – the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) – which has to decisively move to bring him back from abroad to make him part of the Benazir Bhutto assassination case.

There are clear indications that instead of taking a concrete action to produce the absconders before the courts, the federal government will keep hammering their nonappearance to take political mileage, to damage them and to present the ex-premier and his children as responsible leaders, who are surrendering to the judicial process, although, they assert it is heavily loaded against them.

A major reason behind the inaction of the capital police to catch hold of Imran Khan is that the federal government doesn’t want to let him take political advantage of his arrest. The PTI has an interesting policy about its chief’s decision not to submit to the court orders, saying that there will be chaos and anarchy in Pakistan if he was nabbed, and he is always ready to be arrested by the police.

Imran Khan is wanted by the ATC in a criminal case relating to the torture on Islamabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ismatullah Junejo by the workers of the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) during the 2014 sit-in. His beating was captured by the TV cameras at the time. PAT chief Allama Tahirul Qadri has also been declared absconder by the ATC in the same case.

Saying that his severe back problem needs treatment abroad and he will come back in a maximum of six months, Musharraf slipped out of Pakistan in March 2016 after the federal government did not stop him from leaving following the removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL) by the Supreme Court.

For its own reason, the central authorities had not placed Musharraf’s name on the ECL. After departing from Pakistan, the former dictator told a TV channel that by using his influence in different relevant circles, the then army chief, Raheel Sharif, had facilitated his departure from Pakistan.

While the PML-N continues to boo and jeer at him for absconding, Musharraf has chosen to keep mum. With a great difficulty, he had got himself out of Pakistan after facing a three-year travel ban. Pinning high hopes on the May 2013 general elections, he had flown back to Pakistan two months before the exercise. Since then, his exit from Pakistan was forbidden. He was very nervous and in deep commotion because of the restriction while living in Pakistan as a prisoner for apparent grave security concerns. His dream that he would have a big say in politics also stood shattered in those parliamentary polls.

“One comes, the other goes . . . at least [we] come and do not flee like the rest; absconders are holding public meetings and roaming around independently,” Maryam said, reinforcing the PML-N attack on Imran Khan and Musharraf.

Nawaz Sharif continuously appeared before the accountability court but had to skip Monday’s proceedings as he went to London to be with his ailing wife, Begum Kulsoom. However, he sent Maryam and Capt (retd) Safdar to attend the court hearing. However, Hussain and Hassan have not turned up even once and are unlikely to be part of the proceedings for being dual nationals.

Maryam also hinted at this possibility when she stated that they hold dual nationality and it was up to them to decide whether or not to attend the judicial process. “My brothers live abroad; the laws of Pakistan don’t apply to them.”