Musharraf being shifted to Karachi?

Former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf, facing treason trial, is likely to be shifted to a navy hospital here from his farmhouse near Islamabad due to security threats, a media report said today.
Musharraf, 70, will be kept in the Critical Care Unit (CCU) of PNS Shifa, a technologically advanced naval medical treatment facility.
However, his spokesperson and party denied the report.
According to a report in the Express Tribune, special arrangements have been made at PNS Shifa for the former president's treatment and security.
A special team of doctors has also been constituted for his treatment. Banners have been displayed outside the hospital to stop the movement of irrelevant people, the paper said.

According to the sources, there are serious threats for Musharraf in Rawalpindi or Islamabad and, therefore, he has selected Karachi for his treatment, it said.

Meanwhile, Musharraf's newly-appointed lawyer Farogh Naseem said he had no idea of any such move being planned.
"Imagination knows no bounds," Musharraf's spokesperson Raza Bokhari told PTI.
Asked if he would be shifted, he said, "Of course not."
Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League party spokesperson Aasia Ishaque said his house has been declared as a satellite facility of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi.
A cardiologist is with him and there is an ambulance on standby in case anything happens, she said.

"With all this, why would anyone move all the way to Karachi? This is like the reports which have been appearing in sections of the media that one flight or the other has come to take Musharraf away," she told PTI.
Analysts say if Musharraf is shifted to Karachi, it would be a ploy to keep him out of Islamabad and away from the courts.
However, analysts say such a move is unlikely as Musharraf is under heavy security and Islamabad or Rawalpindi are much safer than Karachi where the Taliban, who have vowed to attack him, have a strong grip.

Musharraf narrowly escaped an assassination attempt last week when a powerful bomb went off near his farmhouse here minutes after his convoy had passed.
Since Musharraf is under threat from terror groups, heavy security has been given to him and all his routes are thoroughly checked before he gets out.
After his return to Pakistan from self-exile in March last year to take part in elections, Musharraf has faced prosecution in four major cases, including for his alleged involvement in the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in 2006.

Musharraf was indicted last week by a special court hearing the high treason case against him for abrogating the constitution and detaining judges in 2007, becoming the first-ever military ruler to face criminal prosecution.