Musharraf's lawyer faces embarrassment

Pervez Musharraf's lawyer faced embarrassment after he failed to deliver on a promise that he would spring a surprise in today's hearing of the treason trial of the former Pakistani military ruler.
Ahmed Raza Kasuri was boycotted by the media after he refused to apologise for claiming yesterday that there would be an "element of surprise" at the hearing in a special court formed to try Musharraf for imposing emergency in 2007.
"Yes, the element of surprise was that Musharraf didn't turn up despite having accepted the warrant," a sheepish Kasuri said.
The court directed 70-year-old Musharraf to appear on February 18 or face a non-bailable arrest warrant after he skipped today's hearing.

Kasuri had yesterday said the defence lawyers had decided their strategy but would not tell the media about it. "We want an element of surprise," he had said.
Putting on a brave front today, he said, "See the prosecution and judges were surprised when Musharraf did not turn up. Had we said yesterday he will not come, then the prosecution would have come prepared."
Kasuri had recently had a verbal argument with a journalist after he asked a pointed question. He had accused the reporter of being an "Indian journalist".