Pak's interior ministry yet to suspend Musharraf's passport

The Pakistan Interior Ministry is yet to revoke former General Pervez Musharraf's passport, despite a court order on the same.

On March 8, a three-judge special court in Islamabad hearing the 2013 treason case asked the interior ministry to suspend Musharraf's passport and his computerised national identity card (CNIC) besides taking steps for his extradition through Interpol.

However, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on March 16 stopped the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and the directorate general of the immigration and passport from suspending the documents unless Musharraf was prepared to visit Pakistan, The Dawn reported.

According to prosecution sources, the Pakistan interior ministry was approached for the implementation of the special court order. They said the interior ministry 'misinterpreted' the direction for suspending Musharraf's passport and CNIC in order to benefit him.

On March 20, Iqbal said Musharraf was not only issued a new passport two months before the expiry of his travel document in March, but his diplomatic passport was renewed in January, as the latter was a former head of state.

He claimed that the diplomatic passport of Musharraf was renewed 'out of fear' that he might use it as an excuse for not returning home to face the case.

A Pakistan special court last month asked the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to suspend Musharraf's passport and CNIC in regards to the high-treason case.

According to legal experts, the order by the special court is significant as it will help to halt the movement of Musharraf abroad.

The special court also ordered the Pakistan government to arrest Musharraf and confiscate his properties in the high-treason case, wherein he had imposed emergency rule in the country in 2007.

Musharraf, who left Pakistan for Dubai in March 2016, was declared a "proclaimed absconder" by the court in May 2016.

Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan for nine years (1999-2008), is wanted in several criminal cases, which also includes the alleged killing of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)