Former Pakistani President Musharraf Charged With 2007 Murder of Benazir Bhutto

Okay, so maybe I missed something along the way here...when Pervez Musharraf was President of Pakistan, he had more attempts on his life by al Qaeda than you could shake a stick at.  Musharraf was the toughest leader on the jihadists in Pakistan than any before him or since him.  It's been documented that the Taliban in Pakistan orchestrated and carried out the murder of Benazir Bhutto and the next thing I know, when Musharraf returns to Pakistan he is scorned by the Islamists in the country...then he is arrested by the Islamists....and now he has been charged with the murder of Bhutto.

Who ever said what happens in Pakistan ever makes any sense?

The story comes from DAWN.

Musharraf charged with Benazir's murder


RAWALPINDI: Former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf was indicted on three counts Tuesday in Rawalpindi's anti-terrorism court (ATC) over the 2007 murder of ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf was also produced in the ATC amidst tight security during today’s hearing of the case headed by ATC judge Habibur Rehman.

A challan was read out against the former president and six others nominated in Benazir’s murder during the hearing.

“He was charged with murder, criminal conspiracy for murder and facilitation for murder,” public prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told AFP at the ATC in Rawalpindi hearing the case.

The six accused persons include former City Police Officer (CPO) of Rawalpindi Saud Aziz, the then SP Khurram Shahzad, Hasnain Gul, Rafaqat Hussain, Sher Zaman and Abdul Rasheed respectively.

Musharraf and the accused men denied the charges.

The court ordered the authorities to produce all the defendants in a hearing fixed for August 27 as it subsequently adjourned the matter to the said date for evidence to be brought.

Following the adjournment, the former president returned to his Chak Shahzad residence, which had been declared sub-jail.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack outside Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007 while Musharraf was president. She was killed after addressing an election campaign rally in the city.

Pakistan's New Prime Minister Decides To Try Former President Musharraf With Treason

I got a kick out of the headline at DAWN for this story....check it out:

"Former dictator Musharraf to be tried for treason: PM Nawaz Sharif"

Dictator!  hahaha   Well, I guess America isn't the only country with a far left liberal pussy media who doesn't mind crossing the line from journalism into flagrant opinion and advocacy.

Former dictator Musharraf to be tried for treason: PM Nawaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told the National Assembly Monday that the government would put former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on trial for treason, charges punishable by death or life imprisonment.

He told the lower house of Parliament that the newly elected government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) will file a written request before the Supreme Court to try former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf for treason under Article 6 of the Constitution.

Sharif said the former president had committed treason by abrogating the Constitution and he should be tried under the law.

The premier moreover said Musharraf would be tried for imposing a state of emergency in the country in 2007 while also suspending the Constitution.

Earlier, Attorney General of Pakistan Munir A. Malik informed the Supreme Court that the government was fully committed to initiate high treason case against the former military ruler and his abettors according to the provisions of the Constitution.

The AG submitted a written statement before the three-member SC bench comprising Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan during the hearing of petitions against Pervez Musharraf for imposing emergency in the country on November 3, 2007.

“Given the primacy of the issue in the struggle for upholding the spirit of Constitution, the federal government will proceed in accordance with law and also take political forces into confidence through a consultative process so that the collective will and wisdom of the people of Pakistan is duly reflected in further process in this behalf,” said the statement.

The attorney general stated that the government would need time to frame the whole process. However, the apex court adjourned further hearing of the case till June 27 while directing the AG to further explain the government’s stance on the issue.

Leader of Opposition in NA Syed Khurshid Shah welcomed the prime minister's speech in NA and said that the pictures of all past dictators should be removed from the parliament premises.

He said that people rejected those who called the Constitution of Pakistan a meagre piece of paper, a reference to another former dictator General Ziaul Haq.

Other members of the NA sitting on opposition benches also extended their full support to government in its decision to try the former dictator.

Following Shah’s address, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his party would support every constitutional step taken by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The premier later took the federal cabinet into confidence over government's response in high treason case against Pervez Musharraf.

Pakistan Taliban issue fresh threat to kill Musharraf

It's been a long time since Pervez Musharraf was in Pakistan and when he was in Pakistan, he was busy dodging al Qaeda assassination attempts...well, now he is back in Pakistan and he's going to have to dodge new threats to his life...this time from the Taliban.

The Taliban have issued a fresh new death threat on the former Prime Minister and for those that think it is just an idle threat...well, remember what happened to Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan.

The story comes from DAWN.

Pakistan Taliban issue fresh threat to kill Musharraf


PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban on Sunday issued a fresh threat to assassinate former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who is currently facing a barrage of legal cases in police custody.

The retired general has been detained in his farmhouse on the edge of the capital Islamabad since April 19 on charges of conspiracy to murder former premier Benazir Bhutto, sacking of judges when he imposed emergency rule in 2007, and the 2006 death of a Baloch rebel leader.

Before his arrival in March, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) threatened to kill him for his alliance in the US-led “war on terror” and attempts to clamp down on militants, when he was in power.

TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan on Sunday issued a fresh warning in a video message posted on Taliban website Umar Media, saying “Soon we will punish this Satan (devil) to death for his wicked deed”.

Musharraf went to the top of the Taliban hit list after ordering the army in 2007 to storm the Red Mosque in Islamabad, where radicals were holed up. The operation left more than 100 people dead and opened the floodgates to attacks in Pakistan.

“From Balochistan to Waziristan, Musharraf threw this country in blood and fire, he is the killer of hundreds of innocent students of Lal Masjid (red Mosque),” Ehsan said.

A Pakistani court on Wednesday refused bail to Musharraf over the detention of judges.

The ruling came two days after a court granted him bail over the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a gun and bomb attack in 2007.

Former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, Arrested In Islamabad

From the BBC.

Pakistani police arrest Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad


Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been arrested on charges relating to the unlawful detention of judges in 2007.

He appeared at a district court on Friday morning amid heavy security.

He was initially placed under house arrest at his home in Islamabad but later transferred to the police headquarters in the city.

Mr Musharraf has described the cases against him as politically motivated.

Thursday's order to arrest him was an unprecedented move against a former army chief who ruled the country for almost a decade, the BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad says.

Although he was present at court when the warrant was issued, police made no attempt to arrest him and he rapidly returned to his home on the outskirts of the city.

He was finally arrested on Friday morning and appeared at court, where a judge ruled that he should be held in custody for two days.

The decision to move him from his home to police headquarters appears to be largely procedural. He is expected to appear before an anti-terrorism court in the next 48 hours.

His legal team have said they will challenge the order in Pakistan's Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, members of Pakistan's Senate passed a resolution that the former president should be tried on charges of high treason relating to his declaration of a state of emergency in 2007.
Candidacy rejected

Last month Mr Musharraf returned from years of self-imposed exile hoping to lead his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) party into the general election next month.

Earlier this week his candidacy was rejected in Chitral, one of four seats he had applied to contest.

Mr Musharraf had already failed in an attempt to stand in three other seats.

The case for which he has been arrested relates to his controversial decision to dismiss judges - including Chief Justice Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhry - when he imposed emergency rule in 2007.

He also faces several other criminal cases and had been trying to stave off arrest ever since he returned.

The Pakistani Taliban have also vowed to assassinate the former president, who seized power in a 1999 coup.

Pakistani Taliban Jihadi Leader Forms Death Squad To Get Musharraf

From The Long War Journal.

Pakistani Taliban threaten former President Musharraf with 'death squad'


A Pakistani jihadist who escaped from prison during a Taliban jailbreak last spring appeared in a video in which he threatened to assassinate Pervez Musharraf, the former President of Pakistan who has recently returned from self-imposed exile. The jihadist, Adnan Rasheed, said he formed an assassination team and plans to attack Musharraf.

Rasheed appears on a video with Ihsanullah Ihsan, the spokesman for the Movement of the Taliban Pakistan, who is wanted by the Pakistan government. The video was produced by Umar Studio, the media arm of the Movement of the Taliban Pakistan, and obtained from a Facebook page by the SITE Intelligence Group.

In the video, Rasheed, who speaks in both English and Urdu, is shown training a group of fighters who have supposedly been assigned to assassinate Musharraf.

Rasheed says the "death squad" is split up in groups of "fedayeen, sniper team, special assault team, and close combat team." The term 'fedayeen' is often used to describe suicide bombers.

"Musharraf, you can see this death squad around me. We warn you to surrender yourself to us, otherwise we will hit you from where you will never reckon," Rashid says in English while surrounded by his team.

Rasheed issues the threat to Musharraf as he is surrounded by his "death squad." Fifteen men wearing masks and military uniforms are seen armed with RPGs, sniper rifles, and assault rifles.

Musharraf returned to Pakistan yesterday and said he is seeking to return to politics. He left Pakistan in April 2009 after resigning the presidency in August 2008. Pakistan's Supreme Court was planning impeachment hearings just before Musharraf resigned. Upon his return, Musharraf was photographed with a protective vest that is visible underneath his clothing.

Rasheed is a longtime jihadist associated with al Qaeda

Rasheed has a history with Musharraf. He is a Pakistani terrorist who was involved in the Dec. 14, 2003 assassination attempt against then-President Pervez Musharraf. A member of the Pakistani Air Force, Rasheed was sentenced to death for his role in the assassination attempt. While in prison, Rasheed owned several cell phones and frequently communicated with journalists. He also got married while in prison and fathered a child.

Rasheed worked for Amjad Farooqi, the Pakistani terrorist who engineered the two assassination attempts against Musharraf in December 2003 at the behest of al Qaeda leader Abu Faraj al Libi; Farooqi is suspected of involvement in other terror attacks as well. Farooqi was a member of the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan; the Harkat-ul-Ansar and its successor, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen; Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami; and Jaish-e-Mohammed. He served as a close aide to Qari Saifullah Akhtar, the leader of the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami. In addition, Farooqi served as the group's representative to al Qaeda's International Islamic Front, which issued the 1998 fatwa that declared war on the US.

On April 15, 2012, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan launched a successful operation to free Rasheed and nearly 400 prisoners, including an estimated 200 Taliban fighters and jihadists, being held at a prison in Bannu. The operation was directed by Hakeemullah Mehsud, the emir of the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, and Waliur Rehman Mehsud, the group's emir for South Waziristan. More than 150 fighters assaulted the prison. Rasheed was later featured in a videotape celebrating the jailbreak.

Since Rasheed has been freed from prison, the Taliban have featured him in several propaganda tapes. Most recently, on Jan. 29, Rasheed appeared in a joint Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan video that announced the formation of of the Ansar al Aseer, a unit tasked to free jihadist prisoners and support their families. The video also featured Yassin Chouka, a wanted German commander in the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan; and Abdul Hakeem, a Russian IMU member.

Pakistani Taliban threaten to assassinate Musharraf

Can anyone say....Bhutto?

The story comes from DAWN.

Pakistani Taliban threaten to assassinate Musharraf


ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani Taliban have threatened to use suicide bombers and snipers to kill former president Pervez Musharraf when he returns home from exile.

Speaking to Dawn.com, TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said the group had set up squads of suicide bombers to assassinate Musharraf.

“Suicide bombers are being trained and assigned to assassinate” the former president, Ehsan said.

Moreover, Adnan Rasheed, who took part in a previous attempt to assassinate Musharraf, has been given the charge of these suicide squads.

Rasheed is a former junior technician of Pakistan Air Force who was on death row after getting convicted by a field general court martial for engineering an attack on Musharraf in December 2003. He was among the prisoners who had escaped during the April 15, 2012 Bannu jail break.

Musharraf angered the Taliban and other groups by joining the US war on terror following the September 11 attacks and later launching a major crackdown on militancy in Pakistan.

Musharraf is due to return to Pakistan on Sunday from Dubai, after nearly four years of self-imposed exile, in time to take part in parliamentary elections on May 11.

Will Musharraf Return To Power To Rescue Pakistan?

In an interview with Al-Jezeera television, former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, stated that he might consider a return to power in Pakistan due to the crisis that continues with regards to the Taliban. Now, in that same interview, Musharraf got a couple of digs in on the United States but overall, he is stating the obvious...that the Pakistani government is blowing it in their dealing with the Taliban. Here's the entire article from Dawn:

Musharraf willing to return to the helm of power

LAHORE: Former president General (retired) Pervez Musharraf has said he will be willing to take the president’s office once again if the country’s political and economic affairs continue their downward spiral.
Interviewed by the Al-Jazeera television channel, he said that he would mull over the chance of returning to his previous position if he thought he could play a meaningful role for the country.
Musharraf told Al-Jazeera that he had resigned because if he had continued he would have become ‘kind of an impotent president.’ He said he did not like sitting around uselessly and therefore chose to depart.
However, Musharraf said that since relinquishing his position, he was increasingly becoming ‘despondent’ about the country’s state of affairs, especially the situation in Swat, where the Taliban had been allowed by the government to introduce sharia law.
The former president said the Taliban were now a far greater threat to Pakistan than Al Qaeda. He slammed the US for the ‘trust deficit’ between the two countries. Musharraf said President Barack Obama was not very different from his predecessor and had not helped change the US mind-set towards Pakistan.

Now, I have never endeared myself to some of the aspects of Musharraf's dealing with the United States and he never would commit totally to a complete war on terror in Pakistan but this guy was a DREAM compared to the weak-kneed pansies that are throwing the country to the wolves at the present. Let's face it - Musharraf was an assassination target of al Qaeda FIVE TIMES for a reason - he would not allow al Qaeda the freedoms they have now and you can see from the article that he is disgusted with what the Taliban is getting away with.

And also, when Musharraf got pissed off at the Taliban or al Qaeda, the mutherfucker was ruthless and used the Pakistani military brilliantly. I guess, to put it simply, I loved the military mind and aggressiveness of Musharraf while I wasn't that fond of the politician who criticized America too much. But we need this guy back, now. It may already be too late.

Musharaff To Resign As President Of Pakistan

This article, here at Reuters, details how Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, will resign his Presidency rather than have to deal with impeachment proceedings threatened by the new coalition government. Here's some of the details:

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf will resign rather than face impeachment by parliament, the Financial Times said on its website on Thursday, citing government officials and a member of his circle.
The paper quoted an unnamed senior Pakistani government member as saying that a deal had been brokered between Musharraf and members of the newly elected coalition government.

Musharraf had demanded he be allowed to retire to his farm in Islamabad and that there be no moves to prosecute him once out of office, the Financial Times said.

This isn't a huge surprise at all, but it still is unsettling to me. Musharraf really represents the last tie between the Pakistani military and the government and when he is gone, I doubt that the military will be real eager to take any orders from these new asshats in charge. And that will signal a chink in the Pakistani military that will spurn some attacks, perhaps even an offensive by the Taliban and/or Al Qaeda.

One could spell out a lot of beefs against Musharraf from a U.S. point of view but I, for one, remember that Musharraf survived multiple assassination attempts by al Qaeda over the years and that toughened him on the war on Terror. He certainly didn't cooperate much inside of Pakistan but when he was in charge, you didn't see the build up of Taliban and al Qaeda forces inside Pakistan like you see now and Musharraf did provide decent intel to the West.

So, while he leaving permanently does't cause one to tear up, it certainly opens the door to a whole barrel full of calamities with this new bunch of government officials in Pakistan.

Pakistan's Musharraf to resign as president: report

LONDON (Reuters) - Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf will resign rather than face impeachment by parliament, the Financial Times said on its website on Thursday, citing government officials and a member of his circle.
The paper quoted an unnamed senior Pakistani government member as saying that a deal had been brokered between Musharraf and members of the newly elected coalition government.
"The president will neither be impeached nor prosecuted on any charges. He will try and stay in Pakistan," the paper quoted the official as saying.
Musharraf had demanded he be allowed to retire to his farm in Islamabad and that there be no moves to prosecute him once out of office, the Financial Times said.
It quoted a senior government official as saying Pakistan's powerful army had insisted Musharraf's demands be met.
Musharraf, a close U.S. ally, has been under pressure to stand aside from Pakistan's ruling government coalition, led by the party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
The former army chief, who seized power in a 1999 coup, has been isolated since his allies lost a February election.
His plummeting political fortunes have heightened concerns in the United States and among its allies about the stability of Pakistan, a nuclear-armed Muslim state that is also a hiding place for al Qaeda leaders.

Spain Alerts Britain To Exposed Terror Plot Against Visiting Musharraf

President Musharraf of Pakistan is scheduled to visit Europe and today, Spanish police have alerted Great Britain and other European countries to terror plots against Musharraf that they have uncovered.
The Spaniards aren't saying exactly what they discovered when they arrested a bunch of Pakistani islamists but the police and intelligence officials did alert four specific European countries after finding whatever they found.
Musharraf is scheduled to go to Great Britain, France and Switzerland...so those would be three that are alerted - and rumor has it the fourth country is Portugal.
To be honest, I can't imagine that Musharraf could feel any more threatened while visiting Europe than he does in his own country.

Here's the full story from Breitbart.

January 20, 2008

Spain alerts Britain after foiling bomb plot on eve of Musharraf visit

SPANISH police say they have foiled an attempt by Islamic extremists to carry out bomb attacks coinciding with a state visit to Europe by Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan.
It was reported that other European countries, including Britain, had been put on alert by the Spanish for the possibility of terror attacks.
Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, the Spanish interior minister, said that five homes and a mosque in central Barcelona had been raided and a quantity of bomb-making material had been seized, including four detonators. Twelve Pakistanis and two Indians were arrested on Friday.
Rubalcaba said police acted on a tip-off from “another secret service” and discovered that some of those detained were about to purchase explosives.
The arrests were made just days before a visit to Europe this week by Musharraf. He is due to go to France and the UK and attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The minister said that he could not reveal more about the police operation which was continuing but the National Intelligence Centre (CNI), the Spanish secret service, had warned at least four other European countries to prepare for “imminent attacks”.
The main concern was that it appeared that an unknown quantity of the explosive had been removed before the raids. “We are facing a well organised group that had moved a stage further than just being radicals,” the minister said.
“We were alerted by another secret service that they were preparing to commit terrorist actions in Spain, specifically Barcelona.”
Although the interior minister would not link the latest arrests with Musharraf’s visit to Europe, secret service sources told El Pais that the new alert coincided with Musharraf's trip.
The source implied that the CNI had specific information on itinerant terrorists heading for the UK, France and Portugal.