ISLAMABAD: The capital police Wednesday declared former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf innocent in a case relating to the killing of Lal Masjid cleric Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, DawnNews reported.

Islamabad's Additional Sessions Judge Wajid Ali heard the case today.

Advocate Ilyas Siddiqui, counsel for Musharraf, presented his arguments in court, saying that no evidence had been produced against the former president in the last six years.

Siddiqui moreover said that another murder case should be filed in court over the deaths of eleven soldiers who had lost their lives during the operation in Lal Masjid.

A challan was submitted today in the court by the police against Musharraf in the murder case of the Lal Masjid cleric. According to the police, the former president was declared innocent due to insufficient evidence and lack of eye-witnesses in the incomplete challan against him.

However, lawyer of the Lal Masjid Shuhada Foundation Tariq Asad informed the court that the authorities had disregarded important evidence during the investigation of the case, adding that Musharraf was the mastermind and the main culprit of the Lal Masjid operation.

After hearing the matter, the court reserved its ruling until November 1 in accordance with a petition of the Lal Masjid administration.

The Lal Masjid operation was a 2007 government crackdown on the controversial pro-Taliban mosque in Islamabad, which ended in a bloody eight-day siege, killing at least 58 Pakistani troops and seminary students.

The operation, ordered by Musharraf, followed a week-long standoff between the mosque's supporters and security forces.