Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf, indicted on treason charges, has asked the government to lift travel ban on him so that he can go abroad for treatment and meet his ailing mother.
In a hurriedly called press conference on Monday evening, Musharraf's new counsel Farogh Naseem said an application has been filed with the Interior Ministry asking it to remove the name of the 70-year-old former president from the Exit Control List (ECL).
"There has been no movement on it yet," Naseem told PTI when asked about the status of the application. Sources in Musharraf's legal team expressed confidence that things will move forward. They said the application was moved last evening.
Naseem said the special court did not reject any of their applications rather ruled Musharraf is not in its custody and he is a free man. The court yesterday said it did not have power to remove Musharraf's name from the ECL and that a review can be done by the federal government.
Anybody whose name is on ECL cannot leave the country without permission. Naseem also clarified that the earlier team of lawyers representing Musharraf in high treason case had not been removed.
During a previous hearing, chief of the three-member bench Justice Faisal Arab had stormed out of the court after being "disgusted" with the continuous verbal attack by the defence team. Naseem assured the court that under him, there will be no indiscipline from the defence side.
Prior to the indictment, Naseem requested the court to allow Musharraf to travel to the UAE to meet his 95-year-old ailing mother. Musharraf has been indicted for suspending, subverting and abrogating the Constitution, imposing an emergency in the country in November 2007 and detaining judges of the superior courts.
The former president, who is the first military ruler in Pakistan's history to be tried in court, has rejected all the charges levelled against him.
Musharraf was admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, Rawalpindi, on January 2 after he complained of "heart problem" on his way to the court.
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