Islamabad: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said former president Pervez Musharraf can be arrested upon his return to the country because he has already been declared a proclaimed offender in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.
His statement comes after senior special prosecutor M Azhar Chaudhry had earlier said that since Musharraf has already been declared a proclaimed offender in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case, there was no need to get new warrants for his arrest.
Musharraf was declared a proclaimed offender by the Anti-Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi for his failure to cooperate with investigators in the case, The Daily Times reports.
Musharraf, who now leads his own All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) political party, has announced that he would return to Pakistan in January after spending three years in self-imposed exile.
Malik also dubbed the Memogate scandal as a “fasaad-gate” and added that the issue has hurt the sentiments of Pakistani population.
He said Pakistan-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz is not a Pakistani citizen.
“It is possible he (Mansoor Ijaz) hatched the memo conspiracy to sell his article,” he added.
Malik said that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s assassins have been exposed and her murder is being probed from various angles.
ANI
First Published: Monday, January 09, 2012, 11:35