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Musharraf Is Taken From Court to Pakistani Military Hospital Musharraf Is Taken From Court to Pakistani Military Hospital
(about 9 hours later)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s former military ruler, was taken to a military hospital on Thursday while he was being transported to a court hearing to face accusations of treason, lawyers and police officials said. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf was taken to a military hospital on Thursday over concerns about an unexplained heart condition, Pakistani officials said, derailing for a third time a scheduled court hearing in treason proceedings against him.
A senior police official told Justice Faisal Arab, who is heading a three-member panel of the special court that is hearing the case, that Mr. Musharraf had developed a heart problem. In the absence of detailed information about Mr. Musharraf’s condition, the report of his health problems brought renewed accusations that he or his supporters were deliberately seeking to disrupt the court case. The first two hearing attempts were delayed after the police found explosives hidden along the road from his home to the court venue.
Mr. Musharraf, a former army chief, had just reached the premises of the court in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, when his convoy abruptly went to a hospital in the neighboring garrison city of Rawalpindi. More immediately, scenes of soldiers cordoning off the hospital where Mr. Musharraf was taken, in the military garrison city of Rawalpindi, also directly played into long-running concerns that the military might defy the civilian authorities to protect Mr. Musharraf, the former army chief and president. He suggested as much in an interview at his house last week.
A spokesman for Mr. Musharraf said he was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology and was undergoing tests. Since Nawaz Sharif was elected prime minister in May, his insistence and that of judiciary officials on seeing Mr. Musharraf tried on treason charges led to speculation of a new rift between the government and military. Mr. Musharraf, a general, deposed and imprisoned Mr. Sharif in a 1999 coup.
Mr. Musharraf, 70, who seized power in a military coup in 1999 and ruled until he was forced to resign in 2008, is accused of subverting the Constitution when he imposed emergency rule in November 2007. “Publicly, the army will not, and should not, come out with any statement or comment on the Musharraf trial, as for them it’s a Catch-22 situation,” Farooq Hameed Khan, a retired brigadier who is a columnist for the English-language daily The News, said in an interview. “A pro-Musharraf statement would create another crisis. If the top brass wants to give a neutral impression, it will go against the pro-Musharraf sentiment — there is definitely pro-Musharraf sentiment within the army.”
The treason proceedings are unprecedented in the country’s history. However, Mr. Musharraf has denounced the trial as a political vendetta and has challenged the legality of the special court. Lawyers and police officials said Mr. Musharraf’s convoy had just reached the court venue on Thursday when he developed the heart trouble. A spokesman said he was immediately driven away and admitted to the intensive care unit of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology and was undergoing tests.
He has been reluctant to appear at the hearings and his lawyers have been pressing for him to be exempted from having to attend. However, Justice Arab, the presiding judge, has remained firm in demanding that Mr. Musharraf appear before the court. Akram Sheikh, a government prosecutor, publicly accused Mr. Musharraf of using illness as an excuse to avoid attending the hearing.
Akram Sheikh, a government prosecutor, said Mr. Musharraf was using illness as an excuse to avoid attending the hearing. Mr. Musharraf, 70, has denounced the accusations against him — that as president he subverted the Constitution when he imposed emergency rule in 2007 — as a political vendetta, and has challenged the legality of the special court. He has been reluctant to appear at the hearings, and his lawyers have been pressing for him to be exempted from having to attend.
Two earlier hearings were canceled after explosives were discovered on the route to the court from his farmhouse on the outskirts of Islamabad. However, Justice Faisal Arab, the presiding judge, has maintained that Mr. Musharraf must personally attend the hearings. And he directed the police to ensure his appearance at any cost, leading to the deployment of at least 1,600 police officers along his convoy’s potential route the past two days. All pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the area was shut down ahead of Mr. Musharraf’s expected trip to the venue.
On Dec. 26, Justice Arab directed the authorities in Islamabad to ensure Mr. Musharraf’s appearance at any cost. At least 1,600 police officers were deployed on the route Mr. Musharraf was to take from his residence to the court. All pedestrian and vehicular traffic has been stopped for Mr. Musharraf’s journeys to the court.
Earlier on Thursday, prosecutors and Mr. Musharraf’s lawyers traded barbs, accusing each other of threats and provocation.
Rana Ijaz, one of Mr. Musharraf’s lawyers, said that Mr. Sheikh, a prosecutor generally seen as sympathetic to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whom Mr. Musharraf ousted in the 1999 coup, was planning to throw a shoe at Mr. Musharraf to humiliate the former ruler.
Mr. Musharraf’s lawyers denied that he was trying to avoid attending or was frightened.Mr. Musharraf’s lawyers denied that he was trying to avoid attending or was frightened.
“If you are aware of his temperament, he is not one to be scared,” said Ahmad Raza Khan Qasuri, one of his lawyers. “He knew these political jokers will make false cases against him. He will be honorably acquitted.”“If you are aware of his temperament, he is not one to be scared,” said Ahmad Raza Khan Qasuri, one of his lawyers. “He knew these political jokers will make false cases against him. He will be honorably acquitted.”
The treason accusation is the most serious challenge Mr. Musharraf has faced since his return to the country in March last year. However, his ambition of reviving his political fortunes foundered after his party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, received a tepid response from the public and Mr. Musharraf found himself ensnared in a series of court cases. The treason accusation is the most serious challenge Mr. Musharraf has faced since his return to the country in March last year. After seeing his ambition to run for office implode, he was hit with a barrage of legal cases against him.
On Thursday, neither the military nor the hospital administration would issue details about Mr. Musharraf’s health.
Instead, the news media wing of the army issued a terse statement saying that a scheduled meeting of army corps commanders was held under Gen. Raheel Sharif, the new army chief. The statement gave no further details, but Pakistani military analysts said that Mr. Musharraf’s issue would have definitely come up in the commanders’ meeting.
Mr. Khan, the columnist and retired brigadier, said that concern about Mr. Musharraf’s well-being remained widespread in the army’s ranks.
“There is a very sacred relationship between the army chief and his men,” Mr. Khan said. “It is a lifetime relationship and continues even after retirement. It is logical that there will be a lot of concern within the army rank and file when they see their former chief in the dock.”
But Mr. Khan said he doubted that the military would intervene in the legal proceedings, adding: “The army, like every Pakistani, wants that there should be a fair trial.”