A court in Pakistan has banned Pervez Musharraf from seeking public office, in the latest blow to the former president and army chief since he returned from exile with plans for a political comeback.
The ban, issued Tuesday in the northwestern city of Peshawar, comes just weeks after Musharraf came back from nearly four years of self-imposed exile with plans to run for a seat in parliament in May 11 elections.
Since his return, the former president's fortunes have gone from bad to worse. A court on April 20 placed Musharraf under house arrest in connection with charges that he ordered the illegal detention of judges in 2007. Days later, a judge rejected bail for Musharraf, who also is the target of a probe into the December 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, a political rival.
Anti-terrorism authorities are probing claims that the then-president failed to provide adequate security to Bhutto, who was gunned down at a political rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Musharraf has denied any involvement and he says the allegations against him are politically motivated.
Musharraf seized power in a 1999 military coup and ruled for nearly a decade before he stepped down in 2008 and later fled into exile.
The ban, issued Tuesday in the northwestern city of Peshawar, comes just weeks after Musharraf came back from nearly four years of self-imposed exile with plans to run for a seat in parliament in May 11 elections.
Since his return, the former president's fortunes have gone from bad to worse. A court on April 20 placed Musharraf under house arrest in connection with charges that he ordered the illegal detention of judges in 2007. Days later, a judge rejected bail for Musharraf, who also is the target of a probe into the December 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, a political rival.
Anti-terrorism authorities are probing claims that the then-president failed to provide adequate security to Bhutto, who was gunned down at a political rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
Musharraf has denied any involvement and he says the allegations against him are politically motivated.
Musharraf seized power in a 1999 military coup and ruled for nearly a decade before he stepped down in 2008 and later fled into exile.
