Pakistan's Musharraf accused of treason

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KARACHI, Pakistan, April 5 (UPI) -- Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday accepted an application to charge former military ruler Pervez Musharraf with treason.

The application to the court was filed by Chaudhry Taufiq Asif, president of the Lahore High Court's Rawalpindi bench bar association, the Daily News reported.

"I have been informed by the Supreme Court that a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is going to hear my petition against Gen. Pervez Musharraf after three days," Asif said, regarding the court scheduling a hearing in the case for Monday.

Musharraf returned to Pakistan March 24 after four years abroad in self-imposed exile and planned to run in Pakistan's upcoming general elections. He filed papers to be nominated in the election, scheduled for May, but incumbent lawmaker Mohammad Saleem rejected the former ruler's nomination.

Musharraf in turn filed a petition contesting the elections in Karachi, Islamabad, Chitral and Kasur.

Meanwhile, Supreme Court lawyer Barrister Zafarullah has filed a petition with the Election Commission requesting that Musharraf's legal challenge be thrown out because he is involved in four trials: The Akbar Bugti killing case, the Lal Masjid case, the Benazir Bhutto killing case and the missing persons case.

"If no action is taken against him, then it would be like taking punitive action against the corruption of lower functionaries and turning a blind eye to the corruption of big shots," Zafarullah said.