A Pakistani court issued on Friday an arrest warrant against former President Pervez Musharraf and the former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, in the investigation into the death of a separatist leader in the south-west of the country, announced a lawyer. The two men were in power when the main leader of the separatist rebellion in Baluchistan, Nawab Akbar Bugti, was killed in a cave during a military operation in August 2006. The rebel armed group of this charismatic leader formed in the UK requires greater provincial autonomy and sharing of benefits derived from its important lucrative natural resources. His death was denounced during several demonstrations in the country.
“A judge in Quetta issued today an arrest warrant against Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz”, Kasi said Adnan, a lawyer who represents the eldest son of Nawab Akbar Bugti, Jamil, announced. The arrest warrant will be sent to central government that will have to call the two men in court, he added. This long process should not disrupt the exile of Pervez Musharraf, currently living between London and Dubai. But it could create problems if he would decide to return at a later time to Pakistan. Jamil Bugti has filed a murder complaint at the High Court of Justice of Baluchistan in 2009 against Musharraf and Aziz.
Pervez Musharraf is the subject of another arrest warrant issued in February by an anti-terrorism court in the investigation into the death of Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister killed in a suicide attack in 2007, charged that he didn’t protect her enough. In August, the court ordered the confiscation and freezing of his bank accounts in the country.
Opposition leaders at that time accused Pervez Musharraf of deliberately targeting Bugti in this operation supported by aerial bombing that killed seven soldiers and 17 separatists. Shaukat Aziz denied it, assuring that Bugti was killed by the collapse of the cave where he had taken refuge during the confrontation.