Sunday, October 24, 2010

Musharraf fit to be murdered, says fatwa

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf

Adding to woes of Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, a group of religious scholars has issued a 'fatwa' declaring him "fit to be murdered" while a petition filed in the Supreme Court has sought registration of a high treason case against him. The fatwa or edict was issued by a group of politicians and religious scholars during a meeting in Quetta on Saturday, declaring Musharraf, who is preparing to return to Pakistani political arena, 'wajibul qatal' (fit to be murdered). It was issued over the assassination of Baloch nationalist leaders Nawab Akbar Bugti and Nawabzada Balach Marri and the 2007 military operation against a seminary linked to Islamabad's Lal Masjid. The meeting was organised by the Jamhoori Watan Party and presided over by its chief Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti, the son of Nawab Akbar Bugti. Talal Bugti recently caused a sensation by announcing a bounty of Rupees one billion and 1,000 acres of land for anyone who beheads Musharraf.

Among those who addressed Saturday's meeting were former Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam parliamentarian Maulana Noor Muhammad, Ata-ur-Rehman and Maulana Abdul Qadir Looni. They called on the Supreme Court to issue a directive for bringing Musharraf back to Pakistan through Interpol and try him for the murder of Akbar Bugti and the killing of students of Jamia Hafsa, a women seminary linked to the Lal Masjid. They also demanded action against Musharraf for abrogating the Constitution and detaining nuclear scientist A Q Khan, who was arrested for heading a secret nuclear proliferation ring. Meanwhile, a man named Maulvi Iqbal Haider has filed a petition in the apex court, asking it to do away with technicalities and order the registration of a case of high treason against Musharraf for proclaiming a state of emergency in November 2007.

The petition said "any inaction" on the court's part may encourage others to do the same. The petition was an appeal against the Sindh High Court's verdict of October 14 that dismissed Haider's earlier petition seeking the registration of a case of treason against Musharraf. Haider has filed a slew of cases against the former military ruler. In his new petition, Haider said action should also be taken against Musharraf's legal adviser Sharifuddin Pirzada and former Attorney General Malik Qayyum for helping the ex-President proclaim emergency. Haider named the federal government, Law Ministry, Interior Secretary, Home Secretary of Sindh, Pirzada and Qayyum as respondents in his petition.  Musharraf, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Britain since April last year, recently launched his new party  the All Pakistan Muslim League  and announced plans to contest the next general election in 2013.

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