Plea submitted to get Musharraf unhooked from ECL: counsel

ISLAMABAD: An application was filed with Pakistan’s Interior Ministry to have former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s name taken off the Exit Control List (ECL), hours after his indictment by the Special Court in the high treason case Monday.

Pervez Musharraf’s counsel Farogh Naseem speaking to media persons here, said the plea which also makes a mention of today’s verdict of the Special Court, seeks permission for his client to proceed abroad.

“He wants to travel out of the country in connection with his medical treatment, and to visit his ailing mother,” he explained.

In a separate petition seeking permission for Pervez Musharraf to undertake a foreign trip, his counsel said the court had ruled that it was not the court that had the former president’s name placed on ECL.

Naseem asserted that the government could not refuse to review its earlier decision in regard to the removal of his client’s name from the ECL. “The request for Pervez Musharraf’s traveling out of the country does not stand dismissed,” he added.

Earlier in the day, the Special Court had charge-sheeted the former president Pervez Musharraf for high treason in his presence.

Justice Tahira Safdar read out the charges against Musharraf in the court with the former president pleading not guilty.

Musharraf is accused of treason under Article 6 of the Constitution for suspending, subverting and abrogating the Constitution, imposing an emergency in the country in November 2007 and detaining judges of the superior courts.

During proceedings Musharraf said he did not expect justice from present rulers.