Islamabad : Former Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf is suffering from nine medical conditions, a local news channel reported on Tuesday even as the special court hearing his high treason case exempted the ex-president from attending the trial for two days. Citing a medical report submitted to the special court conducting Musharraf’s trial for high treason, Geo News claimed, the 70-year-old former dictator was suffering from calcium deposits in his coronary artery, mental stress, frozen shoulder, excess cholesterol in the bloodstream, enlarged prostrates and spinal and bone pain. The judges had sought the report from the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, where Musharraf was admitted on January 2 after he suffered heart problems while being taken to court.
Tuesday, the court exempted Musharraf from appearance for two days. Justice Faisal Arab‚ head of the special court‚ said the bench further rule on the medical report after reviewing it Thursday. The report was submitted in a sealed envelope by the court’s registrar, Abdul Ghani Soomro. “Lawyers will also be allowed to see the report,” said Arab.
Musharraf, 70, was admitted to a military hospital in Rawalpindi on January 2 after he suffered cardiac problems while being taken to the special court to face charges of high treason for imposing emergency in 2007. The court sought the medical report after Musharraf did not attend Monday’s hearing. Before his health scare, he had skipped two hearings when explosives were found near his home.
On Tuesday, Musharraf’s counsel Anwar Mansoor contended the special court had a limited mandate. He said that he did not view Akram Shaikh as the chief prosecutor in the case. Meanwhile‚ Defence Secretary Asif Yasin Malik, a retired general, told reporters that Musharraf’s matter is sub-judice and has nothing to do with the Pakistan Army. He said the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology is a state-of-the-art facility preferred even by foreigners for cardiac treatment. This is the first time in Pakistan’s history that a former military ruler has been put on trial for treason. If convicted, Musharraf could be given life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Meanwhile, a Pakistani-origin US businessman said, he bought Pervez Musharraf’s luxury flat in London for three million pounds though a spokesman for the embattled former dictator on Tuesday denied the sale. Musharraf’s spokesman in London said the news of the flat’s sale is “false, fabricated and fictitious”. When his attention was drawn to an advertisement for the flat on a property website, he said he had no idea how it had appeared on the site.
Raja Khalid Pervaiz said he struck the deal though a military officer but Musharraf’s spokesman dismissed this, saying several people were claiming different things about Musharraf to get cheap publicity. He added Musharraf’s flat is not for sale, has not been on sale.
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