ISLAMABAD - A local court Wednesday reserved its verdict on the bail plea of former president Pervez Musharraf in Ghazi Abdur Rashid murder case.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Wajid Ali reserved the decision after hearing arguments of both the sides and deferred the hearing till November 1 to announce the verdict.
During the hearing, Ilyas Siddiqui, the counsel representing Musharraf, contended that the former president had no direct link with the Lal Masjid operation.
He argued that the then Islamabad deputy commissioner sent a requisition to call the army since people were being abducted while 11 army men were also killed in the operation.
He added a police report submitted in this case also made it clear that Musharraf had not issued any direction to launch the Lal Masjid operation. He prayed to the court to grant bail to his client in this case.
The counsel for the complainant, Wajihullah advocate, sought adjournment of hearing for some days, saying he intended to produce some witnesses and videos before the police.
However, the judge said this court would decide only the bail matter and he should approach the trial court if he wanted to record statement of witnesses.
Later, the court reserved the decision and adjourned the matter till November 1.
It is pertinent to mention here that the police had submitted before the court a report prepared by a joint investigation team in the Ghazi Abdur Rashid murder case.
According to the report, the police declared Musharraf as innocent in this case as no evidence or eyewitness against him was produced before the police.
Talking to The Nation, the counsel for Musharraf, Ilyas Siddiqui, said that in the police report, Musharraf’s name was placed in Column 11 of the challan which pertains to those accused who are declared innocent by the police in their investigation and the matter is left on the discretion of the court. The police report said the petitioner, Haroon Rasheed, was not able to provide any solid evidence against Musharraf.