Case against Musharraf in judges' detention withdrawn

The lawyer who had filed a petition in the judges' detention case has withdrawn his complaint against former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf.

The decision was taken by Advocate Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam Ghumman a day before the hearing of the case on Saturday by the Islamabad Anti-Terrorism Court.

According to Dawn News, the case was to be heard at General Musharraf's Chak Shahzad farmhouse, which has been declared a sub-jail.

The judges' detention case was registered by the Secretariat Police Station on August 11, 2009 on the complaint of Advocate Ghumman.

Ghumman had sought legal proceedings against Musharraf for confining 60 judges of the superior courts for over five months at their homes and restraining them from administering justice.

Ghumman said he had withdrawn the complaint in the larger national interest.

Advocate Ghumman said he would neither appear before the court nor press for the prosecution of Musharraf, adding that it was up to the court to decide the fate of the case against him.

He rejected reports that he had withdrawn the complaint under any pressure or fear and said he had never been threatened by any quarter.

The complaint against Gen Musharraf was registered under section 344 of the Pakistan Panel Code. The offence is a bailable and entails a maximum imprisonment of three years.

Musharraf may get life imprisonment if he is convicted by the court under this section, the report added.