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Musharraf’s treason trial delayed by bomb scare
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A bomb scare delayed the first hearing in a high treason case against former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf yesterday, police and legal officials said.
The case is the most serious legal problem Musharraf has faced since returning to the country in March in hopes of taking part in upcoming elections. But what followed — a ban on running for office, house arrest and a cascade of legal cases against him — marked a stunning turn in fortunes for a man once considered the most powerful person in Pakistan and a close American ally.
Authorities yesterday found an explosive device and two pistols about 1 kilometer away from Musharraf’s residence in the Islamabad suburbs, said a police official Mohammed Ali.
A lawyer for Musharraf, Anwar Mansoor Khan, told the court that his client could not attend because of a “serious threat to his life.” The chief judge said he understood that it requires “security” to reach the court and directed Musharraf to appear on January 1 for another hearing.
The brief hearing held yesterday at an auditorium at the National Library was expected to be largely procedural but the significance of having a former army chief appearing in front of a treason court would be enormous in a country where the military’s power has rarely been challenged.
Security was beefed up outside the National Library, and about a dozen paramilitary Rangers were stationed inside the auditorium where the three-judge panel was to hear the case.
The Pakistani Taliban threatened to kill Musharraf after his return from abroad. He earned the enmity of militants in Pakistan for his support while in office for the US-led war in Afghanistan and the military offensives he ordered in Pakistan’s tribal areas as well as a raid on a mosque in Islamabad.
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