Pakistan to tap Interpol for Pervez Musharraf's arrest

Islamabad - 25 Feb 2012 (IANS): Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been directed to write to global policing agency Interpol for issuing an arrest warrant against former Pakistani presidentPervez Musharraf, Interior MinisterRehman Malikhas said.

Malik said the FIA would approach the Interpol within a few days for a warrant to arrest the former military leader and bring him back to the country to face charges of involvement in the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

"We have started the procedure and we will bring Musharraf back to the country soon," Malik was quoted as saying by the Daily Times.

A UN report in 2010 accused the Musharraf-led government of failing to protect Bhutto, who had returned to Pakistan from exile to run for parliamentary elections and the prime minister's post.

Musharraf, who has been living in exile in London and Dubai since resigning in 2008, has denied the allegations.

He has also been charged with involvement in the killing of Baloch tribal leader Akbar Bugti, detaining judges of several courts as well as abducting a nuclear scientist.

Bugti was widely perceived to be creating a wave of terrorism in Balochistan in 2004. He went into hiding in 2005 and was killed in August 2006 in a cave in Kohlu, about 240 km from Quetta.

The Balochistan High Court in November last year issued arrest warrants for Musharraf in theBugti murder case.

In the assassination ofBenazir Bhutto, an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi has declared Musharraf a "proclaimed offender" as he did not appear for a hearing.

Musharraf was also declared a proclaimed offender by a court inKhyber Pakhtunkhwafor the alleged abduction of nuclear scientist Attiqur Rehman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 2004.