ISLAMABAD/QUETTA: The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday granted bail to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in the judges’ detention case.

The former army strongman was directed to deposit surety bonds worth rupees 500,000.

The case was registered against Musharraf on August 11, 2009 on the complaint of a local advocate Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam Ghumman for confining over 60 judges of the superior courts after imposing an emergency on November 3, 2007. However, Ghumman had later announced that he would not pursue the case ‘in the larger public interest’.

Moreover, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Quetta today rejected Musharraf's bail application in the Akbar Bugti murder case.

Quetta ATC judge Mohammad Ismail Baloch also rejected Musharraf’s plea to shift the case before the ATC in Islamabad.

“Pervez Musharraf was repeatedly asked to appear before the court of law, but he failed to do so”, Sohail Rajput, Nawabzada Jamil Akbar Bugti's lawyer, told media representatives.

He said Musharraf was the prime accused in Bugti's murder case and different courts had already issued his non-bail arrest warrants in this regard. Rajput added that Musharraf’s bail application was rejected because he did not appear in person before the court.

Earlier on Monday, Musharraf's lawyer, Muhammad Ilyas, had submitted an application before ATC judge seeking bail in Nawab Bugti's case. The court had reserved its judgment on the bail application.

Nawabzada Jamil Bugti,a son of Akbar Bugti, had nominated Musharraf, former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, former interior minister Aftab Sherpao, former governor Balochistan Owais Ahmed Ghani in his father's murder.

Balochistan High Court and other subordinate courts have already issued non-bailable arrest warrants of Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz.

Bugti was killed in a cave in Chalgri area of Bhamboor hills of Dera Bugti district on August 26, 2006 during a military crackdown ordered by Musharraf who was president and army chief at the time.

In related news, Musharraf was exempted from appearing before an ATC in Rawalpindi in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.

Benazir was killed in a gun-and-bomb attack in Rawalpindi in December 2007.