DHAKA: New murder charges have been registered against Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, officials say.

Musharraf, who is currently under house arrest, already faces murder charges over the deaths of Benazir Bhutto and a Baloch tribal leader.

He also faces charges over his attempt to sack Pakistan’s higher judiciary in 2007 and the government has said it will try him for treason.

Musharraf says that all the cases against him are politically motivated.

The latest charge relates to the death of radical cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, during the siege of Islamabad’s Red Mosque in 2007.

More than 100 people were killed when Pakistani troops stormed the mosque after a stand-off between troops and hardline Islamists barricaded inside failed.

Analysts say that the storming of the mosque angered hardliners and provoked Taliban militants to launch a bloody campaign of suicide bombings and other attacks on government and security forces.

‘The High Court ordered Islamabad police to register murder charges against Musharraf on a petition filed by the son of Rashid Ghazi,’ Tariq Asad, a lawyer who represented Ghazi, told media, reports the BBC.

BDST: 1954 HRS, SEPT 02, 2013
RoR/GCP