Musharraf needs heart treatment in US: lawyer
Legal team asks judges in high treason trial to allow former Pakistan president to fly to Texas for medical care.
Pervez Musharraf, the former president of Pakistan on trial for high treason, is to be assessed by a medical board after his lawyers asked the court for him to be sent for treatment in the United States.
Anwar Mansoor Khan said he submitted a letter to court on Thursday asking that Musharraf be transferred to the Paris Regional Medical Centre in Paris, Texas.
In response, the court ordered a medical board to be set up to determine Musharraf’s health. It will have to present its report by January 24.
Musharraf, 70, has been a patient at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi since January 2 after complaining of heart problems while on his way to court. Doctors diagnosed him with coronary artery disease.
Another lawyer for Musharraf told the court that his client had received medical care from the Paris clinic in 2006.
He added that his doctor in Texas “is of the view that the type of disease he is undergoing, there is a likelihood of a sudden heart attack and cardiac arrest”.
Lieutenant-General Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for the former military ruler said he “looked rested” when he visited him on Tuesday.
The court will resume its hearing tomorrow.
The high treason case relates to his 2007 decision as president to impose a state of emergency during which he suspended the constitution and detained several judges, including the Chief Justice, sparking widespread protests.
He stepped down in 2008 and moved away from Pakistan, before returning in 2013 hoping for a political comeback. Instead, he was arrested and accused of a string of crimes.
Speaking to Al Jazeera in his first interview since he was released from house arrest, Musharraf blamed his current legal troubles on what he describes as a “vendetta” by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
“He’s in government, he can influence. Till now he is showing vendetta, but I expect justice from the courts,” Musharraf said.
Musharraf deposed the current Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999 and later forced him into exile.