ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court has been moved to allow former President Pervez Musharraf to go abroad to meet his ailing mother, who is admitted at a Dubai hospital.
Shahjan Khan advocate filed the application on Thursday under Article 184(3) of the constitution and made respondent the federation, through secretaries of Law, Interior and Foreign Affairs.
The petitioner stated that Musharraf’s mother is admitted in a hospital in Dubai but he is not allowed to go abroad under Supreme Court order, dated April 8, 2013, passed in Maulvi Iqbal Haider vs Musharraf case.
He said on the basis of that order interior ministry on Wednesday refused to allow Musharraf to go Dubai. He said Article 5, 9, 17 and 25 of the constitution say that all the citizens are equal and every citizen has right to move freely.
But, lead counsel of Musharraf’s legal team Anwar Mansoor expressed reservation on the application filed by Shahjan Khan, as the defence counsels were weighing options to get Musharraf’s name out from Exit Control List (ECL).
The April 2013 order says; “The interior secretary shall also make sure that if the name of the aforesaid respondent General (r) Pervaiz Musharraf is not already on the Exit Control List, this shall be done forthwith... The federation and all its functionaries shall also ensure that the respondent does not move out of the jurisdiction of Pakistan until this order is varied/ modified.”
Advocate A K Dogar, on whose request a two-member SC bench headed by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja had passed the order, told The Nation that that the order was still intact as neither Pervez Musharraf nor the federation had challenged it so far. He further said only review petition could be filed against that order.
On the other hand, Registrar Special Court trying Musharraf for high treason issued a notification Thursday to change the venue of the court from National Library to Federal Shariat Court. According to the notification, the next hearing of the case on April 15 would be held in the Courtroom No 6 of the FSC, Islamabad. The Registrar said that the copy of the notification had been sent to Musharraf counsels and the prosecutors.