Musharraf says ready to testify from hospital bed

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday he was willing to testify in a high treason case against him, if investigators travel to Dubai, where he is hospitalized.
Musharraf said in a video message from his hospital bed that a special commission investigating his case “can come here (Dubai).” “I can give them a statement,” he said, “they can come and hear me, see my (health) condition and then decide.”
He added the commission can record his statement to brief the court.
Musharraf, 76, is living in Dubai in self-exile. He has been hospitalized since Monday.
“Musharraf is seriously ill and still hospitalized,” Mehrene Adam Malik, the secretary general of Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) told Arab News on Wednesday.
“Because of health issues he cannot travel, but is willing to record his statement in front of the court-appointed commission. Musharraf’s point of view must be heard on humanitarian grounds as he cannot travel,” Malik said, adding “there shouldn’t be one-sided verdict.”
Musharraf complained in the video message that his point of view was not being heard and maintained that the high treason case against him was “baseless” as he had served Pakistan for almost a decade.
“Even my lawyer Salman Safdar is not being heard by the court,” he said, claiming that the lawyer “was being treated unjustly.”
The former military ruler has been charged with subverting the constitution and imposing a state of emergency on Nov. 3, 2007, when he was in power.
A special court on Nov. 19 concluded its trial proceedings and wanted to announce a verdict on Nov. 28, but on Nov. 27 the Islamabad High Court (IHC) stopped the process.
The high treason case was filed against Musharraf in 2013 by the then ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The general was formally indicted in March 2014.
Musharraf became Pakistan’s first army chief to be charged with treason. He pleaded not guilty and dismissed the charges as being politically motivated.
High treason is punishable by death or life imprisonment under Pakistani law.
Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup on Oct. 12, 1999, when he was serving as the army chief. He stepped down in 2008, amid mass protests. He was later allowed to leave Pakistan in 2016 for health reasons.