Pakistan court refuses to hear ‘absconding’ Musharraf’s lawyer

Islamabad, May 5 (IANS) A special Pakistani court hearing a treason case against former President General Pervez Musharraf (Retd) restrained his counsel on Friday from presenting his arguments, noting that it could not hear the lawyer of an "absconder".

On March 18, 2016, the former President flew to Dubai for medical treatment shortly after his name was removed from the exit control list (ECL) on the Supreme Court's directives.

Akhtar Shah, the counsel for the ex-army chief, who is facing multiple charges including treason and involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, had said his client needed urgent medical treatment which was unavailable in Pakistan.

A three-judge bench of the special court refused to hear Shah's arguments, reminding him that the former President had been declared an absconder in the case.

Musharraf was the army chief when he seized power in a coup in 1999. He was the President till 2008 when a democratically elected government came into power and ousted him. He left the country to live in self-imposed exile in Dubai and London.

The charges relate to the former general's imposition of a state of emergency in November 2007 and the assassination of Bhutto the same year. Musharraf, 72, denies all the charges and has termed them "politically motivated".

(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)