General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan, has revealed that he was helped by former Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif to leave the country. He said Gen Sharif, who recently retired from his post, “influenced the courts”, and kept the government from putting pressure on the judiciary against him, reported Dawn.

“Well he [Raheel Sharif] did help me and I am absolutely clear and grateful...he helped out, because the cases are politicised, they put me on the exit control list, they turned it into a political issue,” the former president said during a talk show on a local news channel. He said the country’s courts were often pressurised by the legislative, which also influences the courts’ verdicts.

“These courts work under pressure behind the scenes and then give decisions. The Army chief had a role to play in releasing the pressure behind the scenes,” Musharraf said. After the former Army chief got the government to “relieve the pressure that they were exerting”, the courts allowed him to travel abroad for treatment, Musharraf said. The former president left Pakistan for Dubai in March 2017 after the government removed his name from the exit control list. His name was removed from the list after the country’s Supreme Court lifted restrictions on his foreign travel.

Musharraf is facing trial on treason charges for imposing Emergency in the country in 2007. He has also been accused of being involved in the murders of Benazir Bhutto, Nawab Akbar Bugti and Ghazi Abdul Rasheed. Pakistani Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan had said in March that the former president had “promised to return in four to six weeks”.