Fmr. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf arrested

Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was arrested on Friday morning from his farmhouse, where he had been holed up after Islamabad high court had ordered his arrest on Thursday.

Musharraf has been sent to judicial custody.

On Thursday morning, the Islamabad High Court had cancelled his bail in a case related to the dismissal of judges when he was Pakistan's president.

However, Musharraf managed to evade immediate arrest and escaped from the court premises.

"Look who is running, Musharraf is running," lawyers at Islamabad high court chanted as former dictator Pervez Musharraf fled after the court revoked his bail and ordered arrest in a treason case.

A police officer said the ex-president's men deployed at the court could have detained the former ruler, but he managed to escape. But the policemen and paramilitary soldiers at the court did not to try to prevent Musharraf from fleeing.

Senior Islamabad police officers went for negotiations to the farmhouse where Musharraf is holed up, but returned without any result. "Since he escaped and nobody tried to arrest him, his house was declared a sub-jail and he was put under house-arrest.'' The government had to act within 24 hours of the high court decision or face contempt of court.

Musharraf's close aide and lawyer Ahmad Raza Kasuri regretted the court's order, saying it had not heard his arguments. "It is a one-sided decision,'' he said. "People are asking, is this democracy? Is this the rule of law? Is this the independence of judiciary? With the passing time, the courts are maligning their image.'' Kasuri said the former president was in a relaxed mood, having his coffee and smoking cigar.

Another lawyer, Raja Mohammed Ibrahim, said he would file an appeal challenging the order on Friday.

Sources said Musharraf's lawyers filed a bail application before the apex court to prevent his arrest. But it returned his 14-page application on technical grounds.

The treason case was slapped on him for ordering detention of 60 senior judges, including supreme court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, after he declared emergency and suspended the constitution in 2007. The move fuelled a nationwide lawyers' protest movement that forced Musharraf to resign under the impeachment threat.

Musharraf, who had seized power in a coup in 1999 and ruled the country for nine years, faces the death penalty or life in prison if convicted of treason. But the federal government would have to file charges against him. A lawyer had filed the petition accusing Musharraf of treason. The rejection of his bail was the second setback to the former ruler since Tuesday when he was disqualified from running in the parliamentary election scheduled for May 11.

He had braved Taliban threats and legal challenges and returned home last month after a four-year self-imposed exile to revive his political career.(Times of India)