Felt little insulted, humiliated standing before judge: Musharraf

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Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said he felt a little “insulted and humiliated” standing before a judge in a Karachi court, where he appeared to seek extension of his pre-arrest bail in a series of cases.

Musharraf, 69, who ruled Pakistan for about a decade, following a military coup in which he overthrew Nawaz Sharif, appeared in a court in Karachi for the first time in his life.

“This is the first time, that I ever entered a courtroom in my life. If I was to be very frank with you on my feelings, if you want to know my feelings, the first feeling when I stand up for the judge when he entered which was the norm — the norm which I had to follow, I did feel somehow a little insulted, a little humiliated,” Musharraf told CNN.

“But then I started thinking to myself that I have been saying that everyone is equal in the eyes of law. So I thought to myself, well, I have been saying this. The law applies to me also. So may be, would be upset for other — that you yourself got involved,” said the former military ruler.

When asked if he trusted the judicial system, Musharraf said one has to face all the consequences. “I know, my conviction is that there is nothing against me. And there were arrest warrants that were issued, for my nonappearance in the court,” he said.

“Now when I appeared on the cases in the court, there shouldn’t be a reason for my arrest. And we should proceed with the cases. As far as the cases are concerned, they are politicised and there’s nothing against me. From any point of view, there is nothing against me. So therefore, with that conviction, I’ll face the courts,” he said.

Musharraf said at no point he was in danger when a shoe was thrown at him in the Karachi court room. “I didn’t even see it. There was nothing that hit me. Later on, I was told that somebody hurled something. But nothing of that sort was visible,” he said.

“But later on they told me, those around me, there were hundreds of people who are my supporters. I think later on I was told that the man was really overpowered and he got a thorough beating or something. But I don’t know who threw what. I didn’t know at all,” he said.

Advocate Tajammul Lodhi yesterday hurled a shoe at Musharraf in the Sindh high court corridor but it did not hit him. Musharraf was required to appear in person in the court to extend the bail allowance. On March 22, a single-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam, had granted a 10-day bail period to the former President who returned home on Sunday after being in self-imposed exile since 2009.

The court extended by 15 days his pre-arrest bail period. The court had also granted Musharraf a pre-arrest bail in the Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto murder cases.