Karachi, Sept 09: A Pakistani court will decide later this week whether to call President Pervez Musharraf to give evidence at the trial of his alleged would-be assassins, officials said today. The anti-terrorism court in the southern port city of Karachi has fixed Friday for arguments over the issue, defence lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar told news agencies.

However, public prosecutor Maula Bux Bhatti said, "I will oppose the defence plea for calling the President."


Police allege Islamic militants parked an explosive-laden vehicle on a busy Karachi road where Musharraf's motorcade was expected to pass on April 26 last year.

The plot failed because their remote control detonator malfunctioned, according to police.

The same vehicle was later used in an attack on the US consulate in Karachi, in which 12 Pakistanis were killed, police say.


The court on Monday recorded the statement of defendant Mohammad Ashraf, who denied the charges through his lawyer.
On Saturday his fellow accused, Mohammad Imran Bhai, Hanif Ayub, Arsalan Sharaib Farooqui and Wasim Akhtar, rejected the charges against them as "bogus."

Police have said that the five are all members of the Islamic extremist organisation Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Almi, an offshoot of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, which is battling Indian rule in the divided region of Kashmir.


Bhai and Ayub were sentenced to death in May for their role in the June 14, 2002 car bomb attack outside the US consulate in Karachi in which 12 Pakistanis were killed.

Bureau Report