ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf has made his return to the country conditional on an absolute guarantee from the Supreme Court that he will not be arrested or barred from traveling abroad.
“Gen. Musharraf is ready to return to Pakistan but only if the Supreme Court gives an absolute guarantee that he would not be arrested in any case and allowed to run an election campaign for his party,” Shahzad Arbi, joint secretary information of Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party, told Arab News.
Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Monday directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to unblock the national identity card and passport of Musharraf to allow him to travel to Pakistan.
The authorities blocked Musharraf’s identity card and passport last week following a directive from a special court hearing a high-treason case against him.
The chief justice also issued an order stating that a tribunal be formed within two days to conduct the pending treason trial against Musharraf.
The apex court had earlier allowed Musharraf to file his nomination papers for the general elections scheduled to be held on July 25, and also directed the authorities not to arrest him on his return to Pakistan.
The ex-army chief and his party think the apparent relief from the court is not enough for him to return to Pakistan.
“Nawaz Sharif and his party still have influence in the bureaucracy and we can’t trust them,” said Arbi. “If the Supreme Court does not give an absolute guarantee, then there is no use in Musharraf returning to Pakistan, at least at this point.”
He said, however, that Musharraf was ready to appear in court to face the cases, including a treason trial, but “it is better if hearings into all these cases are kept pending till the elections, so that Musharraf could easily lead the election campaign of his party.”
The former army chief was indicted in the treason case in March 2014 after he appeared before the court and denied all charges of imposing a state of emergency in 2007. The same month he traveled to the UAE for medical treatment and is now living in Dubai.
Musharraf is also wanted in the courts for other cases, including the Benazir Bhutto murder, the Lal Masjid operation and the Akbar Bugti murder in Balochistan during his regime.
Nasira Iqbal, a prominent lawyer, said that the Supreme Court had already granted interim bail to Musharraf in all criminal cases against him, but “no court, even the apex court, can give him an absolute guarantee of putting off trial for an indefinite period.”
“Musharraf is wanted in court on serious offenses and if he is convicted, he will have to go to jail,” she said. “The Supreme Court has already granted him enough relief and he should come back to face the charges.”
The ex-army chief has submitted his nomination forms for NA-247, a constituency in Karachi, and intends to contest elections from three other constituencies as well — Chitral, Layyah and Gwadar.
Political analysts, however, said that Musharraf had no future in Pakistani politics and was trying to use the elections as a pretext to get relief from the courts in criminal cases.
“Musharraf is weighing his options to return to Pakistan and trying to get maximum relief from the apex court,” Professor Tahir Malik, a political analyst, told Arab News. “He has no future in electoral politics and the submission of his nomination forms is nothing but a publicity stunt."
