Islamabad: Pakistan’s ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha held a secret meeting with former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in Dubai and advised him not to return to the country, according to a media report on Tuesday.
“Gen Pasha, who has remained very close to the former President, held a meeting with (Musharraf) in Dubai and advised him not to return to the country as the situation is not conducive for his return,” a source was quoted as saying by Dawn News channel.
The channel quoted its sources as saying that Pasha “strictly advised” Musharraf not to return to Pakistan from self-exile. The report said it was not clear whether the meeting was held on the directions of the Pakistan People’s Party-led government or if it was a private meeting.
The report said Musharraf, after meeting Pasha, convened a meeting of his All Pakistan Muslim League party on January 25 for reviewing his decision to return to Pakistan.
The media report coincided with a resolution passed by the Senate or upper house of parliament that demanded the arrest of Musharraf on his return to Pakistan and the registration of a case of high treason against him for abrogating the Constitution. Several Pakistani leaders, including Interior Minister Rehman Malik, have said Musharraf would be arrested on his return to Pakistan.
Musharraf recently postponed his plans to return to Karachi during January 27-30. The dictator has been living outside Pakistan since early 2009.
Dawn News channel reported that Pasha enjoys a long history of relations with Musharraf. During Musharraf’s last year as President in 2008, Pasha was appointed to the key post of Director General of Military Operations. Later, army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani promoted Pasha to the rank of lieutenant general and appointed him the chief of the ISI.
Two important cases have been registered against Musharraf in Pakistan. An anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi has declared Musharraf a “proclaimed offender” or fugitive for failing to cooperate with investigators probing the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto.
Musharraf was also named in a case related to the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in a military operation in 2006. (PTI)