ISLAMABAD: The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday sent former president Pervez Musharraf on a 14-day judicial remand in the judges’ detention case.

The former president, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was produced before the ATC amid tight security.

General (retd) Musharraf was presented in the in-charge judge ATC Kausar Abbas Zaidi’s court which was established in Islamabad on Friday by the Law Ministry.

During the hearing, the police requested the judge to order a judicial remand for the former president, whereas, the petitioner’s counsel Ashraf Gujjar requested the court to order a physical remand of the retired general. He also objected to bringing of Musharraf to the court amid heavy security.

The petitioner’s lawyer argued that the accused was presented in the court without handcuffs, which is a mala fide action.

Despite high security, a large number of lawyers reached the spot and started chanting slogans against Musharraf and also scuffled with his supporters. A large number of lawyers were present outside the court during the hearing.

Police recorded the initial statement of Musharraf that would be made part of the proceeding. The judge had ordered to produce the former president before the court on May 4.

After the hearing, the security personnel escorted Musharraf outside the court from where he left for the Police Headquarters again under foolproof security.

Earlier, Musharraf reached the court in Islamabad after spending his fist night in the police custody at the Islamabad Police Lines Headquarters.

The case on the former president is based on an FIR registered on August 11, 2009 on the complaint of Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam Ghumman, Advocate.

He asked the police to initiate legal proceedings against Musharraf for detaining over 60 judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, after proclamation of a state of emergency in the country on November 3, 2007.

Meanwhile, the administration

declared Musharraf’s farmhouse at Chak Shehzad as sub-jail and shifted him there as a prisoner on Saturday morning.

Earlier, the chief commissioner Islamabad, raised certain objections to the issue of declaring the farmhouse as sub-jail, but later accepted the request.

Authorities handed over the control of the sub-jail to the administration of Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, and to law enforcing agencies with the direction to provide extraordinary security to the sub-jail. The Adiala Jail officials, headed by a deputy superintendent, had already taken over internal control of the farmhouse before the shifting of Pervez Musharraf.

Sources said that some controversy developed between the Islamabad and Adiala Jail administrations regarding the declaration of the farmhouse as sub-jail. However, the issue was resolved after the interference of some high-ups.

Sources said that the SSP Islamabad submitted the application to the office of the deputy commissioner, Islamabad, with a comprehensive report submitted by the intelligence agencies, including the Islamabad Police’s Special Branch. The acting DC (Additional Deputy Commissioner-General) forwarded the same to the chief commissioner Islamabad, who accepted the request and issued the notification.

Police Special Branch expressed its fear about threats to the life of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf from various terrorist organisations. The report said that the former president was facing multiple threats from various terrorist outfits including the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Ghazi Force, suggesting stringent security for Pervez Musharraf. The report expressed its concern over his security in jail, saying, “The former president is not safe even in jail and he could be attacked in the jail jurisdiction as many persons belonging to various terrorist outfits are undergoing their terms in different jails.”

Pervez Musharraf’s convoy was taken out from the Police Headquarters (which was declared as a police station) at 10am on Saturday under intense security and reached the district court area in F-8 at about 10.20am but due to security reasons and gathering of lawyers, his vehicle was stopped some 100 yards away from the Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC).

Musharraf was forced to wait for about 45 minutes in his vehicle. However, after getting clearance from security providers, Musharraf, who was wearing a bulletproof jacket, was brought out of his vehicle to be taken to the court. Confusion, tension and nervousness were visible on his face for the first time when he was being produced before the court after spending one night in police custody.

Stringent safety measures were taken with the strategy of three-ring security – close ring of rangers, police commandos and some plain-clothed personnel of intelligence agencies. The second deployment was around the court and around the premises of district court area – to counter all threats from the terrorist outfits.

“No one can imagine the threats the general is facing from many extremist organisations which have announced his assassination at all costs,” a top administrative officer told ‘The News’ before the farmhouse was declared sub-jail.

“He is reaping what he had sowed,” the officer dealing with the security matters, said.

“The top terrorist outfits and even individuals are vying with each other to be the first to hit the former president,” he added.

No untoward incident was reported during the process of shifting of the former president to the court and back and later to the sub-jail. A group of lawyers created law and order problem near the court and chanted slogans against the former president where a small group of “Musharraf lovers” was also present in and around the district court. However, an anti-Musharraf group of lawyers thrashed some unknown people wearing lawyer’s black coats and chanting slogans in favour of Musharraf.

On the other hand, about 40-yard-long protection wall of the sub-jail collapsed just before the farmhouse was declared as sub-jail. The repair work of the damaged wall would soon be started, the concerned sources from the department told this correspondent.

Meanwhile, the chief commissioner, Islamabad, on Saturday evening constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) headed by SP (City) Capt (retd) Mohammad Ilyas to investigate the terrorism case against former president Pervez Musharraf, registered under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorist Act (ATA), the sources said.

Representative of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) were not included in the six-member JIT for certain reasons, the sources told The News.

The Section 7 of ATA was included on the order of Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the FIR (No 131) registered on August 11, 2009 with early Section 344 PPC.

The commissioner Islamabad office confirmed the report saying that the JIT was constituted under Section 19, which was essential for investigation of the case registered under the ATA. The sources said that representative of Intelligence Bureau (IB) would be included in the JIT, adding that the course of investigation could take more time than the other normal inquiries.

Rizwan Abbasi, advocate high court, when contacted, said that the JIT had the prerogative to delete the addition of the ATA section during the investigation.

