For plot to kill Musharraf, six get life imprisonment

ISLAMABAD - An anti-terrorist court in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi city Tuesday sentenced six men to life imprisonment for plotting to carry out a suicide attack to kill former president Pervez Musharraf in 2008.

Justice Raja Akhlaq pronounced the verdict in Rawalpindi’s Adila jail where the case was being heard.

The six accused men were sentenced to life in prison with Rs.50,000 cash penalty each. However, seven others were acquitted for lack of conclusive evidence and were given “benefit of doubt”.

Security forces had nabbed 13 suspected terrorists June 6, 2008, from Dhok Kala Khan, a suburb of Rawalpindi, along with 300 kg of explosives and detonators in three vehicles.

Special public prosecutor Ch. Zulfiqar Ali Tuesday said, “Justice has prevailed”.

The lawyer for the accused said his clients had not been given proper hearing and they will appeal the sentence in the high court.

The Federal Investigation Agency had charged the suspects with hatching a conspiracy to assassinate then president Pervez Musharraf. The militants were reportedly planning to hit the wall of the Army House, where Musharraf stayed as army chief-cum-president, before barging into the house.

Musharraf didn’t vacate the tightly guarded Army House in Rawalpindi to shift into the Presidency in Islamabad because of security threats.

There were many attempts on his life and he spent his tenure literally under blanket security provided by the military.

Since he assumed power in a bloodless coup in 1999, the Pakistani military dictator survived at least three major attempts to kill him. He stepped down as president in 2008.

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)