Musharraf quizzed over rebel leader death

Pakistani police on Thursday questioned former military ruler Pervez Musharraf over the 2006 death of a rebel leader -- one of three legal cases that have blighted his return from exile, officials said. The retired general has been humiliated since returning in March from self-imposed exile to contest elections. He is currently under house arrest in connection with two other legal cases and has been barred from running for parliament. "A three-member team of (the southwestern province of) Baluchistan comprising senior police officials is investigating general Musharraf," prosecutor Hassan Kakar told AFP. They would also record his statement in the case, he said. Baluch nationalist leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti, was killed in a cave on August 26, 2006 during a military crackdown ordered by Musharraf. Bugti was the chief of the Jamhoori Watan Party and an influential tribal chief who controlled the gas-rich district of Dera Bugti. Two local police officials confirmed on Thursday that Musharraf had been questioned at his Islamabad villa by Baluchistan police. Musharraf is being held under house arrest over the 2007 murder of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and for sacking judges in 2007 when he imposed emergency rule. Baluchistan is one of the country's most deprived areas. It suffers from a separatist insurgency waged by Baluch rebels, an Islamist militancy and sectarian violence against the Shiite Muslim minority.