Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf surrendered himself to a court Friday and was put under house detention, pending trial on charges related to his moves against the judiciary in 2007.<\/p>\n
The arrest of Mr. Musharraf, the former army chief, added new drama to a country struggling to hold elections, due May 11, amid Taliban attacks and a controversy over the disqualification of thousands of candidates<\/p>\n
The Islamabad High Court had ordered his arrest Thursday during a hearing but Mr. Musharraf initially absconded from the court and sped to his home on the outskirts of the capital, aided by armed security guards.<\/p>\n
The fate of Mr. Musharraf will raise serious concerns in the military, which has frequently seized power in Pakistan\u2019s turbulent history and remains the country\u2019s most powerful institution. Mr. Musharraf, a retired general, came to power in a 1999 coup and ruled until 2008.<\/p>\n
He returned to Pakistan last month after four years of self-imposed exile, in order to run in next month\u2019s elections\u2014even as he faced several court cases related to his time in office. Election officials and judges have already barred him from running in all the four constituencies that he had planned to contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cMusharraf has put himself into this bind. He always acts first and thinks later,\u201d said Shaukat Qadir, a retired brigadier general. Mr. Qadir and other retired army officers said that Mr. Musharraf had been strongly advised by the military not to come back to Pakistan, especially considering the rising clout of the country\u2019s judiciary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem for the army is that it\u2019s got no cards to play in this game. It\u2019s been hijacked by the judiciary,\u201d Mr. Qadir said.<\/p>\n
Television pictures showed Mr. Musharraf, dressed in traditional shalwar kameez\u2014baggy trousers and long shirt\u2014flanked by police and paramilitary soldiers, appearing at the district court Friday. The judge allowed Mr. Musharraf to stay in his mansion on the outskirts of Islamabad, under house arrest, instead of sending him to jail.<\/p>\n
Mr. Musharraf \u201csurrendered himself\u201d before a judicial magistrate at 8:30 Friday morning, said Mohammad Amjad, a senior official of his political party. He was remanded in custody for two days and permitted to remain at his house, which was declared to be a \u201csub-jail,\u201d Mr. Amjad said, adding that the former president will co-operate with the police investigation now under way.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the speed at which courts are bringing charges against him, you can judge for yourselves what panic the courts are in. They want to quickly do a trial and sentence him,\u201d said Mr. Amjad.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Pakistan\u2019s Senate passed a unanimous resolution calling for Mr. Musharraf to be tried for treason. The Senate was also concerned that behind-the-scenes pressure had been exerted to prevent Mr. Musharraf being arrested on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Zahid Khan, a senator from the Awami National Party, which had been part of the outgoing coalition government, said that \u201cdouble-standards\u201d were being applied to the former military dictator.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the pressure coming from? Which institutions are weakening our constitution?\u201d Mr. Khan said. \u201cWe will keep our watch on this, so that some helicopter doesn\u2019t suddenly land and take him away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf surrendered himself to a court Friday and was put under house detention, pending trial on charges related to his moves against the judiciary in 2007.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n