Musharraf’s convoy escape bomb blast: police

Islamabad, April 3, IRNA – Police in Islamabad on Thursday said that a blast occurred on a route of former president Gen. (retd) Pervez Musharraf who was shifted to his residence from a military hospital, police said. No one was hurt in the Late Wednesday blast. Musharraf was taken to his farmhouse from the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad when the blast took place after his convoy crossed a bridge, police sources told the media. The former President taken to the hospital in early January after he felt pain in his chest, his lawyers say. Security officials and the police in charge of Musharraf’s personnel security visited his farmhouse and reviewed the security. The government on Wednesday rejected a request by Musharraf to allow him to go abroad for his own treatment and to look after his ailing mother. Musharraf, who was indicted in a high treason case on Monday for abrogating the constitution in 2007, had requested the Interior Ministry to remove his name from the list of those who are barred from leaving the country. ˈMusharrafˈs request cannot be accepted in public interest,ˈ the Interior Ministry said in a letter to the former president. A statement said the decision was made after the government reviewed all of his criminal cases against him and verdicts in previous cases by the highest judiciary. The rejection of Musharrafˈs request means that he will now stay in the country despite strong rumours in the local media that the former president could be allowed to leave Pakistan. The government had barred Musharraf from leaving abroad and has placed his name on the Exit Control List (ECL) after he was charged in several cases including the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and high treason. On March 31, Musharraf had filed an application in the court through his defence lawyer, Farogh Nasim, seeking the courtˈs permission to allow him to leave Pakistan for his treatment in the United States. He had also wanted to proceed to the United Arab Emirate to inquire about the health of his mother, who is under treatment at a hospital there. The three-member special bench, however, rejected Musharrafˈs application and advised him to approach the federal government as the government has placed his name on the ECL. Now the Interior Ministry also dismissed for permission to go abroad for treatment./end