Musharraf indicted

A Pakistani court yesterday charged former military ruler Pervez Musharraf with the 2007 murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, an unprecedented move against an ex-army chief.
It is the first time a head of Pakistan's army has been charged with a crime, challenging beliefs that the military is immune from prosecution and threatening to fan tensions with civilian institutions.
While murder will be difficult to prove, it may embolden efforts to try Musharraf for treason for seizing power in 1999 and for violating the constitution by sacking judges and imposing emergency rule in 2007. Treason can carry the death penalty.
Musharraf, once the most powerful man in the nuclear-armed state, appeared in court yesterday to deny the charges against him.
The case was adjourned until August 27 although no date has been set for any trial.
Musharraf's legal team dismissed the charges as "baseless".
Bhutto, twice elected prime minister of Pakistan and the first woman premier of a Muslim country, was killed in a gun and suicide attack in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
Musharraf's government blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who denied any involvement. He was killed in a US drone attack in 2009.
In 2010, a UN report accused Musharraf's government of failing to give Bhutto adequate protection and said her death could have been prevented.
"There is a long way to go and it will be very, very difficult to prove that he engineered the murder conspiracy or that he was the mastermind," political analyst Imtiaz Gul told AFP.
"All we have seen is a politically motivated indictment, which may be of no real significance in the long run."
Nor has the indictment silenced speculation about the possibility of a behind-the-scenes deal that could allow Musharraf to leave Pakistan without going to jail.