Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf left Pakistan on Friday for medical treatment in Dubai after the government lifted a travel ban imposed on him as he awaited trial on treason and other charges, his spokesman said.
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Musharraf left Pakistan after the Supreme Court overturned a High court ruling that backed the inclusion of his name on the Exit Control List of the government. “I am going overseas for treatment but will return to face the cases against me”, a party spokesman in Karachi quoted him as saying.
He departed from Karachi airport at 3.55 am in a Dubai bound Emirates flight.
Musharraf (72) has been facing trial for treason since 2013 and he was barred from leaving the country by the government. But it did not bar the federal government from stopping Musharraf’s foreign tours.
He returned to Pakistan in March 2013 after almost four years of self-imposed exile to contest elections. He is expected to be back within six-eight weeks and he said he will face all cases against him in his home country.
Pakistan’s interior minister Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday told a press briefing that after consultation the government chose to let Musharraf leave the country for treatment.
Legal experts said that the murder case of Benazir Bhutto may be in doldrums after former president Pervez Musharraf has gone overseas.
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Mr Musharraf came to power in 1999 in a bloodless coup against prime minister Nawaz Sharif and stood down nine years later when threatened with impeachment. Other charges relate to events in the same year – the state of emergency, his suspension of judges during that period and the death of a cleric during a siege at the Red Mosque in Islamabad in 2007.
