Musharraf hints at tensions between state pillars

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Former Army chief Pervez Musharraf had returned to Pakistan last month to contest elections after four years in self-imposed exile.—File Photo

KARACHI: Hours after evading arrest, Former President Pervez Musharraf indirectly warned that the Islamabad High Court’s decision to reject his bail extension may cause “unnecessary tension amongst the various pillars of state and possibly destabilise the country.”

“We expect this unwarranted judicial activism, seemingly motivated by personal vendettas since his (Musharraf’s) return to Pakistan to participate in the upcoming elections, will cease and the Supreme Court, without prejudice, will immediately grant necessary relief following precedence and the Rule of Law; the absence of which will cause mockery of the nation,” said the statement also posted on his official Facebook page on Thursday.

The former military ruler was whisked away from the courtroom by his personal earlier on Thursday, after the IHC rejected his application for extension of bail and ordered his arrest.

The statement said Musharraf would file an appeal in the Supreme Court against, what he termed, the “ill-conceived decision of Islamabad High Court.”

The former president is currently at his farmhouse retreat in Chak Shahzad, a suburb of Islamabad, under strict security.

It was unclear if and when Musharraf could be detained, but a police team which had earlier reached the Chak Shahzad farmhouse, apparently to arrest him, later mysteriously left.

Thursday’s arrest order by the IHC was the latest humiliating blow against the former Army chief who returned to Pakistan last month to contest elections after four years in self-imposed exile.

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