The upper house of Pakistan’s parliament on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution that demanded the arrest of former President Pervez Musharraf on his arrival in the country and the registration of a case of high treason against him.
The resolution was moved in the Senate by Raza Rabbani, a senior leader of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party.
Mr. Rabbani accused Mr. Musharraf, currently living in self-exile in London and Dubai, of abrogating the Constitution twice, arresting members of the superior judiciary and compromising national interests.
Mr. Musharraf dented the national economy and inflicted colossal loss to the national exchequer, Mr. Rabbani said.
The rules of business of the Senate were suspended when Mr. Rabbani moved a motion and informed the chairman of the House that he and several other Senators of the PML-N, Awami National Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, intended to move the resolution against the former dictator.
The resolution alleged that Mr. Musharraf had “aided, abetted and is an accomplice in the murders of (former premier) Benazir Bhutto and (Baloch nationalist leader) Akbar Bugti.”
It accused Musharraf of committing “numerous crimes” against the people of Pakistan and said: “his policies and use of state force in Balochistan led to the loss of innocent lives and further sponsored disappearance of its citizens”.
Mr. Musharraf “compromised vital national security interests through clandestine deals and unwritten agreements with foreign governments” and his economic policies widened economic disparity, created monopolies, promoted cartels and “gave rise to crony capitalism”, the resolution said.
The resolution demanded that Mr. Musharraf should be “arrested immediately on arrival in Pakistan” and that the federal government should institute a case of high treason against him under Article 6 of the Constitution.
Mr. Musharraf recently postponed his plans to return to Karachi during January 27 and 30 after several Pakistani leaders, including Interior Minister Rehman Malik, said he would be arrested and jailed as soon as he stepped out of the aircraft.
Two Pakistani courts issued warrants for his arrest last year.
