Govt grants permission, Musharraf to leave for Dubai

Nisar says former president going abroad for treatment and will return within four to six weeks; he will face cases in courts; decision taken in light of court verdict

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to allow the former dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf to proceed abroad for medical treatment.Addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Thursday evening, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that the decision had been taken in the light of the Supreme Court judgment.

He said the Supreme Court, too, had recognised the authority of the government to notify or de-notify names for inclusion or exclusion from the Exit Control List (ECL). He said that Musharraf had booked a seat early this morning but he was conveyed that it was not possible to leave without the formal permission of the government. He said today lawyers of the former president had approached the government and sought the exclusion of his name from the ECL.

“The government has decided to allow Musharraf to travel abroad for treatment. He (Musharraf) has also committed he will face all the cases against him in the court,” the interior minister said and added,“Musharraf has promised to return within four to six weeks.”

Nisar said Musharraf’s lawyers had formally asked the government to allow foreign travel to the former president. “Following his lawyers’ application, the government has decided, in the light of the decision taken by the apex court, to allow Musharraf to travel abroad for treatment.”

Lashing out at the opposition’s criticism of the PML-N government for not coming down hard on Musharraf, who is facing a treason case for abrogating the Constitution and imposing emergency in 2007, Nisar said, “Those who gave a safe passage to Musharraf and offered him the guard of honour are now politicising the matter.”

Without naming the PPP, the interior minister said: “Why did they not initiate a single case against Musharraf during their five years of rule?”Defending the incumbent government, the interior minister said in the past two years “the government has opposed Musharraf’s foreign travel in all courts.”

He said the Supreme Court, while removing the ban on Musharraf’s travel abroad, had left it up to the government to decide whether his movement should be restricted or not. “Musharraf had attacked the courts and the judiciary. Today, if the apex court has struck his name off the ECL, everyone should respect that,” he said.

Ruling out any secret deal on the Musharraf issue, he said a ‘particular group’ was engaged in criticising all the actions of the incumbent government.“This particular group is criticising the government for letting Musharraf go abroad and the same group will oppose keeping him in the country,” he remarked.

Chaudhry Nisar said those who gave Musharraf the guard of honour were now playingpolitics through tickers on the court orders.Criticizing the previous PPP government, he said the Benazir Bhutto murder case was not solved during their five-year-long tenure.

“But it is our government that took Musharraf’s cases to courts,” he said and added that the ECL policy was also changed by the present government. The ECL was a very strict law. Through this list, a person’s movement was restricted and, therefore, it needed amendments.

The minister said that his party’s government moved every court in the country to keep Musharraf’s name on the ECL. He said there were cases on record in which someone’s name was put on the ECL just because of some domestic issue. “We made changes in this policy and now it is completely transparent.”

He said Musharraf’s lawyers had assured the ministry that their client would return within four to six weeks and that the former president would face all pending cases against him in the courts and was leaving only for the sake of medical treatment.

The minister said as per reports, General (retd) Musharraf had booked a seat for early Thursday morning but he was conveyed that this was not possible without the formal permission of the government.Replying to a question, he said, “Now the court says that his name may be removed from the ECL, it is the court’s decision.”