Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, who faces charges of treason and murder, left the country early yesterday for what his lawyers said was urgent spinal care after a three-year travel ban was lifted.
Musharraf boarded an Emirates flight bound for Dubai that departed from Karachi airport at 3:55am, an airport source said, adding that the retired general appeared “relaxed.”
A local party spokesman in Karachi said later yesterday that he had landed in Dubai and reached his residence, where he is to stay for some weeks before seeking an appointment with doctors in the US.
Photo: AP
Lawyers for the former president, who is facing multiple charges, including treason and murder over the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, have said he needs urgent medical treatment not available in Pakistan.
“I am going abroad for treatment, but will return to face the cases against me,” a party spokesman in Karachi quoted him as saying. “I am a commando. I love my motherland.”
“Six to eight weeks are required for the treatment and then he would go back home,” said Amjad Malik, a doctor and spokesman for Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League party in Dubai.
However, analyst Hasan Askari said the chance of Musharraf coming back was “minimal,” adding that his return could cause problems for the government and embarrass the military.
“In order to defuse the conflict, the government agreed to let him go,” he said.
Musharraf was banned from leaving Pakistan in March 2013 after he returned to the country on an ill-fated mission to contest elections.
The former ruler was barred from taking part in the polls and instead faces a barrage of legal cases.
In January, Musharraf was acquitted over the 2006 killing of a Baloch rebel leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti, but four cases against him remain — one accusing him of treason for imposing emergency rule, as well as those alleging the unlawful dismissal of judges, the assassination of opposition leader Bhutto and a deadly raid on Islamabad’s radical Red Mosque.
Bhutto’s son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, leader of her Pakistan People’s Party, vowed to launch countrywide protests against the government for allowing Musharraf to travel.
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