Pervez Musharraf`s bail plea rejected in Benazir muder case

Zee Media Bureau

Lahore: In further trouble for Pakistan’s former general Pervez Musharraf, his bail plea in Benazir Bhutto murder case was rejected by Lahore High Court on Wednesday. The bail plea was dismissed on the grounds that his “counsel did not pursue the case on bail plea”, reported the Dawn. Pakistan Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar said that Musharraf could be arrested any time now after rejection of his bail plea, the report added. "The court dismissed General Musharraf`s bail application," prosecution lawyer Chaudhry Azhar told reporters after the hearing by the Lahore High Court sitting in Rawalpindi, the garrison city twinned to Islamabad. "Now the FIA (federal investigative agency) should arrest him," he added. Musharraf is already under house arrest in his farmhouse, as he was sent to 14-day judicial custody in judges detention case. Former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto was killed in Rawalpindi on 27 December 2007. Musharraf has been accused of failing to provide adequate security to Bhutto when she returned to Pakistan from self- exile. Officials have said the decision to hold Musharraf at his villa was made in view of threats to his life from the Taliban and other militant groups. Musharraf returned to Pakistan last month after nearly four years of self-exile, promising to "save" the country from economic ruin and militancy. However, he was barred from running in the May 11 general election, which will mark the first democratic transition of power in Pakistan’s history. He is facing several serious criminal cases. Lawyers have petitioned the Supreme Court to put him on trial for treason for imposing emergency and he also faces charges over the death of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti in a 2006 military operation. With PTI Inputs