ISLAMABAD: All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) leader Dr Mohammad Amjad has said that former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf cannot return to the country to face the treason case as he is currently undergoing treatment for a ‘disease’ for which he is required to visit London after every three months.

“Pervez Musharraf is rapidly growing weaker and we cannot put his health at risk,” said Dr Amjad while speaking at a news conference here on Sunday.

The APML leader, however, refused to provide details about Gen Musharraf’s new ailment, saying that they would soon submit medical documents to Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar.

“We cannot tell the nation about this disease, but we will inform the court,” he said, adding that they “expect to get justice” from the courts.

“Pervez Musharraf had a fracture in his spine, for which he got treated in the US,” he said, adding that “nowadays he is being treated for a separate ailment. For this, he has to go to London after every three months”.

Dr Amjad said the former president wanted to return to the country before and after the July 25 elections, but hurdles were created in his way. He demanded that Gen Musharraf should be allowed to move freely whenever he returned to the country and they would request the government not to put his name on the exit control list.

He said they were consulting the lawyers about the timing of the former president’s return to the country as he wanted to face the charges against him in the Pakistani courts.

Commenting on the post-election situation, the APML leader said they had strong reservations about the elections but accepted the results and his party fully supported the government of Imran Khan.

He said 13 members of the present federal cabinet were previously with Gen Musharraf and later either joined the Pakistan Peoples Party or Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. He claimed that these people would come back to Gen Musharraf whenever he would return to Pakistan.

Dr Amjad said that he and other members of the APML’s central executive committee had resigned from their offices after the party’s defeat in the July 25 elections, but their resignations had not so far been accepted by Gen Musharraf.

The former military dictator had left the country in March 2016 for Dubai for medical treatment of his back, but never returned to the country despite promising that he would soon come back to face the courts.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2018