Pervez Musharraf Placed Under House Arrest, Barred From Running Seat In Parliament

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff placed under house arrest, the Pakistani media reported Thursday.

The government of Pakistan said earlier Thursday that it would obey an order by Islmabad’s High Court to arrest Musharraf, Pakistan’s interim Minister of Information Arif Nizami said.

The order is legally binding, according to Nizami, who is acting as a spokesman for the government.

The government had to act within 24 hours of the high court’s decision or face contempt of court charges.

Local TV stations earlier showed police entering the former president’s villa compound, where Musharraf went after being quickly ushered from the court by his private security detail.

The arrest order was made at the same time the court rejected Musharraf’s request for bail extension in a case he is facing over his order that caused the detention of judges in 2007.

The ruling set the stage for his arrest and has further undermined his political aspirations.

Musharraf’s office called the Islamabad court’s decision “unwarranted judicial activism” that was “seemingly motivated by personal vendettas,” and said it would appeal against it at the Supreme Court.

But Ibrahim Satti, one of Musharraf’s attorneys, told local TV reporters that they had arrived at the court too late in the day and that the Supreme Court refused to accept the appeal.

Satti said Musharaf’s legal team would seek to file the appeal Friday instead, local TV stations reported.

After Musharraf’s appearance in court Thursday, his spokespeople have given contradictory statements on his legal status. The former president, however, remains in his Islamabad home.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court issued a ruling calling the inspector general of Islamabad police to court Friday to explain why his officers did not arrest Musharraf in court Thursday as instructed.

The high court ruling asks the inspector what precise steps police took in order to arrest Musharraf.

The ruling also said that when Musharraf allegedly ordered the house arrest of senior judges in 2007, it was an “act of terrorism” as it prevented the judges to fulfill their duties.

Musharraf resigned as president of the South Asian nation five years ago and went into exile in the United Kingdom and UAE. He came back to Pakistan under heavy security to contest three court charges against him, as he intends to run for the upcoming elections.

But this week, Pakistani election officials barred the former president from running for a seat in parliament, a decision which his lawyer said Musharraf will challenge in the supreme court.