Pakistan: Islamabad court issues arrest warrant against ex-president Pervez Musharraf

The Islamabad district and sessions court has rejected the exemption plea of former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf and issued an arrest warrant against him.

Musharraf, who repeatedly failed to appear before the court over the murder of a cleric in Pakistan, is living in Karachi with his daughter.

The court issued the non-bailable warrant against him and adjourned hearing in the case until 27 April.

The case against Musharraf relates to the killing of Red Mosque cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi and his mother during an operation in 2007. The two were killed after army commandos stormed the mosque in Karachi on Musharraf's orders.

He has never appeared for any of the hearings before the court, citing health and security reasons.

The former army chief is also facing murder charges in the 2007 Benazir Bhutto assassination case and is currently out on bail.

Musharraf was indicted in a treason case in March last year for suspending, subverting and abrogating the Constitution and imposing an emergency in Pakistan in November 2007. He came to power after a bloodless coup in 1999.

All the cases were filed against the former dictator after he returned from five years of self-exile in Dubai to contest the 2013 general election.