Pervez Musharraf seeks court's permission to travel abroad

KARACHI: Close on the heels of Pervez Musharraf being granted bail in four major cases, the former president's lawyers today filed an appeal in a court against a government ban on him travelling out of Pakistan.

The application asked the Sindh High Court to strike Musharraf's name from the Interior Ministry's Exit Control List. Lawyer A Q Halepota said different courts had confirmed Musharraf's bail in all cases against him.

He said Musharraf wants to go to Dubai to inquire about the health of his 95-year-old mother, who is seriously ill and unable to travel.

Musharraf wants to be with his mother after being released on bail in all the cases against him, he said. His inclusion in the Exit Control List is a violation of his fundamental rights, Halepota said.

The application further asked the court to modify an earlier order restraining Musharraf from leaving Pakistan without permission from courts hearing cases against him.

A division bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah issued notices to the Deputy Attorney General and Sindh's Advocate General and Prosecutor General, asking them to respond to the application by November 18.

Musharraf was held for over six months at his sprawling farmhouse in Islamabad. An order releasing him from house arrest was issued last week after he got bail in a case related to the killing of cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi during a military operation against the radical Lal Masjid in 2007.

He has also been granted bail in three other cases against him over the 2007 assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in a 2006 military operation and the imposition of emergency in 2007.

Musharraf was arrested soon after he returned to Pakistan in March after years of self-exile to contest the general election. A court subsequently barred him from contesting polls for life.

The Federal Investigation Agency's probe against Musharraf over the 2007 emergency is reportedly in its final stages.