Musharraf held under house arrest before return to court

The former President and army chief of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, has been placed under house arrest at his home in Islamabad for the two days prior to his court hearing.

Musharraf has been ordered to stay there after being escorted to his home by police. He was arrested on

Thursday, accused of violating the constitution by unlawfully detaining judges under house arrest  during a conflict between himself and the judiciary during his tenure in 2007.

This was in relation to his controversial decision to fire a number of judges at the time he imposed emergency rule upon the country.

One lawyer who attended the hearing, Naveed Malik, said that the former military ruler had voluntarily taken himself to Court and requested that he be detained at home rather than in prison.

He added that “the police have to present him before the anti- terrorism court in two days’ time.”

Musharraf’s legal team are working to overturn the arrest order with one of his lawyers reportedly saying he would file a petition to request this at the Supreme Court on Friday.

The arrest has occurred after Musharraf returned from a number of years of self-imposed exile to attempt to stand in the polls, which he was disqualified from by election officials.

His return has been met with disapproval by many, including some army officials. Former senior army commander General Hamid Khan said: “I don’t think the army was in favour of him returning and tried to dissuade him. But he decided to come and now he has to face this. The army are staying out of it”.

Musharraf now faces a range of legal hurdles and faces several other criminal allegations after his return.  

Molly Kersey