The special court on Monday dismissed an application seeking permission for former president Pervez Musharraf to travel abroad – saying that it was not in its mandate to allow or disallow him from travelling.
Filed by Pervez Musharraf’s newly-appointed lawyer Dr Farogh Nasim on Monday morning, the application had stated that the former president needed to travel abroad to visit his ailing mother as well as to get medical treatment himself. It sought the removal of his name from the country’s Exit Control List (ECL).
Interestingly, the court dismissed the pleas saying that that it was for the government to remove Musharraf’s name from the ECL and stressed that there was no bar by the special court on Musharraf’s movement.
The order also went a step further and exempted Musharraf from further appearance before the court after Monday morning’s indictment.
The move seems to have thrown the ball in the government’s court despite the fact that government officials had been saying since the beginning of the trial that Musharraf’s travel requests were for the courts to decide on.
On Monday morning, Dr Nasim told the court that former president’s mother was seriously ill and Musharraf needed to be there with her and that the court should allow him to travel abroad and not indict him today. While the court had already rejected the request to not charge him in the morning, it had reserved its judgement on his travel plea till later.
Web Desk
