Former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf, facing charges of high treason for imposing emergency in 2007, has been served with an arrest warrant by police at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology, where he is hospitalised.

Musharraf’s legal team was delivered the arrest warrants which passed it on to Musharraf, who personally wrote a note saying he does not believe that the special court has the right to try him on treason charge.

The three-judge court last Friday issued bailable arrest warrants for appearance before it on February 7 following Musharraf’s repeated attempts to evade personal appearance that is required to deliver the indictment against him on treason charges.

The court had also ordered the Islamabad police to submit a compliance report to the court on February 7. The special court was formed on November 19 with Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court, Justice Syeda Tahira Safdar of the Balochistan High Court and Justice Yawar Ali of the Lahore HC as its members.

The ex-military strongman is due to appear before the special court to face treason charges under Article 6 for suspending, subverting and abrogating the Constitution, imposing an emergency in the country in November 2007 and detaining judges of the superior courts.

Musharraf overthrew the government of current Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless military coup in 1999 and ruled until 2008. His lawyers had claimed that Nawaz is using the treason case to get revenge.

He is the first former military dictator in Pakistan’s history to face trial for treason.

A media report said today that beleaguered former dictator will appear before court for the first time on February 7. Quoting sources close to the 70-year-old Musharraf, a report on the website of Dawn daily said he will appear in court at the next hearing on Friday.

The sources said a joint police team comprising personnel from Islamabad and Rawalpindi has been informed of Musharraf's decision. Musharraf has skipped all hearings of the special court formed by the government in December.

(With PTI inputs)

New York, February 4
Philip Seymour Hoffman was reportedly found with five empty and around 65 unused bags of heroin. Drug paraphernalia including bags of heroin, used syringes and a needle that was still sticking out of Hoffman’s arm was discovered when the police found his body on Sunday, reported ABC news quoting law enforcement sources.

The police investigating the death of the 46-year-old actor had earlier said they found 50 bags of the narcotic but they increased the figures later. Detectives are using the stamps on the bags and checking with nearby jurisdictions to track the orgin of heroin.

They are also trying to determine the purity of the heroin and whether there were any additives, ABC said.

The police are also looking into the possibility whether Hoffman’s stint in rehab this May affected his tolerance for the drug.

The actor was found unconscious at around 11:15 am Sunday on the bathroom floor of his apartment by friend and screenwriter David Bar Katz, who called 911. Hoffman was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Oscar-winner was supposed to pick up his three children on Sunday but he failed to show up. He was last seen alive at 8 pm on Saturday night. The cause of death would be known only after an autopsy.

In a tribute the actor, who had a equally successful stint in theatre, Broadway theaters will dim their marquees for one minute at 7:45 pm on Wednesday. — PTI 

Bangkok, February 4
The Opposition in Thailand today approached a court to annul Sunday’s controversial snap polls, the latest in a host of problems facing the caretaker government of beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The Democrat Party filed a petition in the Constitutional Court to invalidate the protest-hit polls on February 2.

Yingluck is being investigated by the Election Commission for alleged abuse of authority during campaigning and by the National Anti-Corruption Commission for alleged dereliction of duty involving a rice-pledging scheme.

The Opposition’s petition seeks to “nullify the election, disband (the ruling) Puea Thai party and ban its party executives from office for five years”, Democrat Party lawyer Virat Kalayasiri told reporters outside the court.

The Democrat Party boycotted the polls and anti-government protesters forced the closure of hundreds of polling stations, disenfranchising over 10 million voters and forcing the cancellation of balloting at several places.

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday a legal challenge to the “illegitimate” poll would be mounted in the Constitutional Court as it “did not reflect the intention of the constitution or the people”.

The government claimed “victory” in the polls, with the Pheu Thai party bent on confronting protesters.

The Election Commission put the unofficial turnout in the polls at 45.8 per cent, but opposition leader Suthep Thaugsuban claimed the turnout in the capital was the lowest ever for a general election.

Protesters led by the People’s Democratic Reforms Committee (PDRC) continued their marches across Bangkok and pledged to shut more government buildings to press their demand for Yingluck to step down. Fresh polling will be held for those who could not exercise their franchise and in advance voting on January 26. — PTI

Moscow/Beirut, February 4
Russia said its ally Syria would soon ship more chemical weapons abroad for destruction after being accused of dragging its feet, while activists said civilians in Aleppo were fleeing deadly barrel bomb raids by President Bashar al-Assad’s air force.

Moscow also said on Tuesday that the Syrian government would show up at a new round of peace talks next week, in a bid to allay Western concerns over Assad’s commitment to negotiations which ended inconclusively in Geneva last week. The diplomatic assurances come as government forces escalate their assault on Syria’s second city of Aleppo, using a near daily barrage of barrel bombs that some activists say is forcing residents to flee and slowly gaining ground for the President against rebel forces weakened by weeks of infighting.

While the fall of Aleppo is not seen as imminent, Assad is keen to control it, together with the capital Damascus and his heartland along the coast. But the rest of the country remains fragmented between rebel, Kurds and other armed groups.

Western analysts say Assad’s use of indiscriminate weapons such as barrel bombs and his delaying the process of eliminating his chemical arsenal suggests he sees little prospect of the West taking meaningful action against him. Reuters photographs showed streets packed with Aleppo residents carrying large packs as they fled the home-made barrel bombs - oil drums or cylinders packed with explosives and metal fragments.

Barrel bombs, cheap and easy to construct and usually dropped from helicopters, often kill dozens at a time. Activists say they are being used to push people from rebel-held areas into state-controlled parts of the city. “In recent days the flight of civilians has intensified and the regime has made some small gains,” said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group. “The main aid to their advance has been the rebel infighting.” — Reuters

Karachi, February 4
An Indian fisherman was found dead in mysterious circumstances in the Landhi jail of Karachi today. This is the second incident of its kind in less than two months. The prisoner was identified as Kishore Bhagwan in media reports. The cause of Bhagwan's death is yet to be ascertained. His body was shifted to a hospital.

Indian diplomatic sources said they were yet to hear from Pakistani officials.

On December 19, Indian fisherman Bhikha Lakha Shiyal (35) had died in a jail in Karachi and the cause of his death, too, is yet to be ascertained. His body is yet to be handed over to Indian authorities.

“We are likely to receive the body (of Shiyal) soon. We would be making arrangements for the mortal remains to be sent back,” an Indian diplomat told the PTI.

The Indian Government has approached Pakistani authorities to speed up the process of sending back Shiyal's body, which has been kept in a morgue.

Bhagwan was among more than 50 Indian fishermen arrested for allegedly entering Pakistan's Exclusive Economic Zone in January last year. He escaped from jail a month later by climbing over a wall.

He was recaptured in December last year. Pakistani media reports quoted the police as saying that he lived on the roads of Karachi after his escape. — PTI 

India seeks details

* India has asked its mission in Islamabad to find out the details about the death of a fisherman

* Diplomatic sources said they were yet to hear from the Pakistani side.