Musharraf granted protective bail ahead of return to Pak

The Sindh high court has granted former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s request for protective bail in various cases pending against him, ahead of his return to the country after almost five years of self-imposed exile.

The court moreover directed the former military chief to submit bail money amounting to Rs 100,000, reports The Dawn. The court’s order comes in the wake of a constitutional petition filed in the HC by Musharraf''s daughter Ayla Raza on behalf of her father. The petition requested the court for protective bail so that Musharraf could appear in the trial court to defend himself.

The petition said Musharraf planned to return to the country but apprehended arrest for his alleged involvement in different cases, including Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, Akbar Bugti’s murder and the Lal Masjid operation case in which scores were killed.

Musharraf had announced earlier that he would be returning to Pakistan on March 24. Last week, Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Raza Rabbani said Musharraf should be arrested as soon as he arrived in the country and be tried in the courts on treason charges, as ordained by a senate resolution that was passed against him last year.

Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup and resigned in 2008 when his allies lost a vote and a new government threatened him with impeachment.

He left the country a year later. He faces the possibility of arrest in Pakistan on charges that he failed to provide adequate security to Bhutto before her assassination in 2007.