Pakistan ‘not pursuing’ Musharraf’s extradition from UK: Rehman Malik

Taking a U-turn, Pakistan has said it is “not pursuing” the extradition of former President Pervez Musharraf from the UK to ensure his appearance in court for a case related to ex-premier Benazir Bhutto’s murder, days after asserting that the matter will be taken up with Britain.

“We are not pursuing the extradition of Gen Musharraf from the UK,” interior minister Rehman Malik said at a joint news conference yesterday with visiting British immigration minister Damian Green and Sayeeda Warsi, chairperson of the UK’s ruling Conservative Party.

His remarks came days after Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor Muhammad Azhar Chaudhry told the media that Musharraf’s extradition will be taken up with British authorities by Pakistan’s high commission in London.

At the press conference, Green was asked about Musharraf’s possible extradition from Britain where the former military ruler has been living in self-exile since early 2009, but Malik advised him not to make any comment.

FIA chief Waseem Ahmed too told the media that the agency is not pursuing Musharraf’s extradition. He said the FIA had not contacted Interpol in this regard.

An anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of five suspects charged with involvement in Bhutto’s killing recently reissued an arrest warrant for Musharraf after investigators said he had ignored repeated requests to cooperate with the probe into the assassination.

The court has scheduled the next hearing of the case for March 5 and asked prosecutors to present Musharraf on that date.

An FIA investigation team visited Musharraf’s farmhouse at Chak Shahzad in Islamabad on Friday and served the arrest warrant.

A copy of the warrant bears the mailing address of Musharraf’s London apartment, an FIA source was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper.

The extradition of an accused from Britain to Pakistan is a complicated issue because the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.

Musharraf’s spokesperson Muhammad Ali Saif said the government’s attempt to extradite Musharraf is futile and that he did not plan on cooperating with the investigation.

Source: Daily News and Analysis

Good Luck Message by President Pervez Musharraf for Pak Cricket Team for World Cup 2011

Musharraf will not comply with warrant: spokesman

LONDON: Former president Pervez Musharraf will not return to Pakistan to comply with an arrest warrant issued by a court over the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, his spokesman in London said Saturday.

“No, he won’t be going back for this hearing,” Fawad Chaudhry, a spokesman for ex-military ruler Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League party, told AFP, adding that the warrant was “totally ridiculous.”

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court earlier Saturday ordered Musharraf, who is currently in self-imposed exile in London, to appear for a hearing on February 19 over claims about the assassination of ex-premier Bhutto in December 2007.

Pakistani prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said Musharraf was alleged to have been part of a “broad conspiracy” to have his political rival killed before elections but the exact nature of the charges was not clear.

Chaudhry said he had heard that Musharraf, who was president at the time of her death and who stepped down in 2008, was accused of failing to provide adequate security for Bhutto.

“How can the president of a country be made responsible for the non-provision of security? It’s totally ridiculous, you cannot pin criminal responsibility on a president for that,” Chaudhry said.

He accused Pakistan’s judiciary of becoming politicised following Musharraf’s dismissal of the country’s chief justice in 2007, which prompted a constitutional crisis that eventually led to his own resignation.

“It is unfortunate that the judges in Pakistan have literally become a political party,” he said.

“Pakistan’s courts are right now trying to politicise the situation and take on Mr Musharraf after he dismissed the chief justice.”Chaudhry insisted that Musharraf still planned to go back to Pakistan eventually to contest elections, adding: “His return to Pakistan will be a political decision.”– AFP

Source: Dawn