Death threats forced me to withdraw case against Musharraf: Ghumman
ISLAMABAD: Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam Ghumman Advocate, who had moved the court against General Pervez Musharraf for detaining judges, Thursday alleged that he was blackmailed into withdrawing the...
July 26, 2013
Forewarning that Col (Retd) Ilyas would be to blame if any harm befell him or his family, Ghumman claimed he gave up on the case after receiving repeated death threats.
Ghumman was the petitioner in the case and on May 17 he had announced he was withdrawing his complaint in broader "national interest."
He left for London after recording his statement.
A couple of weeks back Chaudhry Sarfraz Anjum Kahlon, Political Advisor to former President Gen. (R) Pervez Musharraf, had alleged that Aslam Ghumman Advocate who filed a petition against Musharraf in the judge’s detention case was blackmailing him and demanding huge sums of money and other benefits.
However, rejecting the allegation Aslam Ghumman later alleged that Kahlon was threatening him with serious consequences for his family members and thus he had withdrawn his petition under pressure.
Kahlon alleged that Ghumman was extensively involved in secretly blackmailing senior aides to Musharraf and demanding huge sums of money as well as other benefits in return for disrupting and undermining the case. “I will hereby expose Ghumman as a blackmailer and as being someone who is unfit to act as a petitioner in Pakistani courts,” he added.
He alleged that Ghumman, who got registered an FIR against Musharraf on August 11, 2009 with the Secretariat Police Station for detaining judges in 2007, demanded Rs20 million, foreign visas and free accommodation from him for one year for his whole family in May 2013.
Kahlon said when he flatly refused to accept Ghumman’s demands, the latter said he would teach Musharraf and his aides a lesson by manipulating the legal system to his advantage.
He said he had evidence of Ghumman’s unlawful role including passport copies and national identity cards of him and all his family members as well as a previously unreleased hand-written attested document signed by Ghumman stating that “he has no objection to the bail of Musharraf in relation to the case.” Ghumman voluntarily provided this documentation.
Kahlon said Ghumman contacted him in early May 2013 and informed him of his decision to voluntarily withdraw from the judges’ detention case.
He said multiple cases were currently being prepared against Ghumman including extortion (Section 383 of Pakistan Penal Code - punishable by up to 3 years imprisonment), giving false and fabricated evidence to the court (Section 191, 192 - up to seven years imprisonment) and cheating (Section 415 - 1 year imprisonment). Ghumman could face up to a maximum of 11 years imprisonment if found guilty on all charges.
When Ghumman was contacted he alleged that Chaudhry Sarfraz Anjum Kahlon was giving threats of serious consequences to his family during the case and was still giving him threats and asking him to leave the country.
Ghumman further alleged that during the case Kahlon threatened him and later offered him that he would arrange visa for him and his family. “Unfortunately, I came under the threat and left the case and announced it in a press conference.” Ghumman said during this time he also sent him the copies of passports and CNICs, as he had offered visa for him and family members.
Kahlon further said that Ghumman later did a U-turn and got a case registered on June 15, 2013 against Col (R) Ilyas, Musharraf’s security officer, claiming that he was receiving life threats from him. Later in June 2013, Ghumman filed a petition with the apex court, challenging the IHC’s order of granting bail to Musharraf after removing terrorism from the charge-sheet and requesting the apex court to set aside the decision and order his arrest.”
