Islamabad: Pakistan’s former military dictator Pervez Musharraf, who is facing a high-profile treason case for suspending the Constitution, is unlikely to return to the country due to his family pressure and medical board’s recommendations, a media report said Sunday.
The development came a day after his lawyer Salman Safdar told reporters that the 75-year-old former president, despite his deteriorating medical condition, is determined to appear before the court that had summoned him for the hearing scheduled for May 2.
However, Dawn news reported that General (retd) Musharraf might not return to Pakistan because of his medical board’s recommendation and family pressure.
A special court indicted Musharraf for high treason in March 2014. Musharraf left for Dubai in 2016 to ‘seek medical treatment’ and has not returned since.
Last month, he was admitted to a hospital in Dubai after suffering a reaction from a rare disease for which he is already under treatment.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had filed the treason case against Musharraf over the president’s imposition of extra-constitutional emergency in November 2007.
The Supreme Court, while hearing a plea filed by a lawyer who pointed out that proceedings of the treason case had come to a halt as former president Musharraf had not returned since 2016, on April 1 directed him to appear before the special court on May 2.
The special court declared Musharraf a proclaimed offender and ordered the confiscation of his property owing to his no-show.
Later, on orders of the Supreme Court, Musharraf’s passport and national identity card were also cancelled. Musharraf ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008. (PTI)
