Former Pakistan president manages to dodge flying footwear lobbed by lawyer, as Karachi court grants bail extension
Pakistan's former dictator Pervez Musharraf has suffered yet another indignity after an irate lawyer lobbed a shoe at him as he attempted to enter a court in the southern city of Karachi.
The incident was the latest misfortune to befall a man who led Pakistan for nine years but is now struggling to revive his political career, after returning on Sunday from more than four years in self-imposed exile.
Musharraf was not hit by the flying footwear, which was believed to have been thrown by as the former president was walking through the court building surrounded by security guards, supporters and journalists.
Pakistan's lawyers, some of whom chanted slogans against him as he entered the building, particularly dislike Musharraf because of his suspension of the country's top judges during his final months in power in 2008.
Shoe throwing is considered a major insult in the Islamic world where the soles of shoes are considered unclean.
Musharraf is camped out in a five-star hotel in Karachi after flying into the country from Dubai and promising to "save" the country by leading his party, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), in historic elections scheduled for 11 May.
But the former commando was not greeted by the throngs of wellwishers he had predicted, with just 1,500 or so turning up to greet him at the airport.
The man who came to power on the back of military coup in 1999 was in court to deal with one of the three cases against him, one of which involves the 2007 assassination of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
In one piece of good news for the former president, judges granted him an extension of pre-emptive bail, meaning he cannot be immediately arrested. The granting of bail appeared to have been key to his decision to return from Dubai to Pakistan last Sunday.
But the chances of him re-remerging as a political force in the land remain slight. Politicians from parties that might be able to provide the organisational muscle his own APLM lacks have kept their distance.
Analysts say Musharraf has grossly exaggerated his political pulling power. Prior to the shoe incident, he had attracted a flicker of interest on social media after posting a picture of himself on Twitter exercising in the gym of his hotel.
Meanwhile, the focus of national attention remains fixed on preparations by the leading political parties for the election battle ahead.
The country also continues to be rocked by violence. On Friday a Taliban suicide bomber on a bicycle attacked the convoy of a paramilitary police commander in the turbulent city of Peshawar, killing 11 people including a four-year-old child.
via The Guardian World News http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/29/shoe-hurled-pervez-musharraf-pakistan
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