Pervez Musharraf to return on March 24

Source : Pakistan Today

Former president and All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) Chief General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf has unveiled his decision to return to Pakistan on March 24.

According to party sources, prominent leaders of APML, workers and world media representatives will accompany former president Pervez Musharraf on his return to Karachi from Dubai on March 24.

The APML leaders and workers have been advised to reach Dubai on March 23. Sources said that an advertising campaign will also be launched before Musharraf’s return.

Millions of Pakistanis Slam Anti-Shia Killings

Source : Ahlul Bayt News Agency

Shia Muslims in Pakistan say the recent terrorist killings are being instigated by foreign forces to foment sectarian strife among Muslims.

Pakistani Shia Muslims have staged a rally in the capital, Islamabad, to express their outrage at the growing violence against Shias in the country.

Crowds of protesters took to the streets to commemorate Martyrs’ Day to honor those who lost their lives in a recent bomb explosion in a Shia neighborhood of Pakistan’s port city of Karachi.

On March 3, over 48 people were killed and 150 others wounded in a car bomb attack carried out in Karachi. Women and children were among those killed and injured.

The demonstrators called on the government to take decisive action against the forces involved in the targeted killings. They also accused the government of failing to provide security for the country’s Shia Muslims and to maintain law and order in the country.

The demonstrators further said that the terror attacks on Shia Muslims in Pakistan are being instigated by foreign forces to foment sectarian strife among Muslims.

Human Rights Watch says more than 400 Shias were killed in Pakistan in 2012, which was the deadliest year on record for the Pakistani Shia Muslim community.

On February 16, a bomb attack targeting Shia Muslims in the main bazaar of the southwestern city of Quetta killed at least 90 people, including women and children, and injured more than 200 others.

Also on January 10, a twin bomb attack at a crowded billiard hall in Quetta, which is the capital of Balochistan Province, killed more than 90 people, mostly Shia Muslims.

Pak anti-terrorism court rejects plea calling for unfreezing Musharraf's assets

Source : Pakistan News

Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) has rejected Sehba Musharraf's plea calling for unfreezing assets of her husband Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf was proclaimed an offender of the Benazir Bhutto murder case by the Anti Terrorism Court in 2011.

The former Pakistan president's bank accounts were frozen and his property taken over by the courts.

Sehba, who has filed an application against the order, said that since her husband gifted their farm house in Islamabad to her, the court illegally ordered its confiscation.

According to the Express Tribune, she also mentioned in her application, that the money in their bank accounts were reserved for the welfare of the general population, hence they cannot be frozen.

Musharraf, who has been in a self-imposed exile, faces arrest warrants for his connection to the Lal Masjid operation and the killings of Baloch leader Nawab Akber Bugti in 2006 and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.

Musharraf is now the chairman of his own political party All Pakistan Muslim League (APML).

In the past, he has said that he would contest elections from Chitral. (ANI)

Musharraf announces return to Pakistan

Source : thenews.com.pk

DUBAI: Former President General (retired) Pervez Musharraf announced he will return to Pakistan within a week of the interim government being established, adding that he will land in either Karachi or Islamabad.

While addressing a press conference in Dubai, the former president said the All Pakistan Muslim League will participate in the upcoming general elections. Addressing the issue of threats to his life and the cases against him in Pakistan, Musharraf said his life was in God’s hands, adding that if he was being tried for promoting development and prosperity in Pakistan, he was ready to face the courts.

Musharraf termed his return to Pakistan as very important for Pakistani politics and said that a viable and honest third force was critically required, adding that he was not returning to settle any scores.

Speaking about the Hazara’s of Quetta, Musharraf said they were patriotic, patient and educated Pakistani’s. Musharraf further added that by remaining divided and fighting amongst each other religious extremism was destroying Pakistan from within.

The former president said he was hopeful that the people of Pakistan had realized who is right and who is wrong as the country will be facing more pressures after the 2014 NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan.