Human rights activists hold placards during a protest in Islamabad on Thursday against the killing of a woman by members of her family for marrying a man of her own choice in Lahore.

KARACHI: A Pakistani court on Thursday reserved judgment on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s application to have a travel ban on him lifted, his lawyer said.

The 70-year-old, who flew to Karachi last month to undergo medical tests, has been waiting for a decision on his application for over a month.

He says he wants the travel ban lifted so he can visit his sick mother in Dubai, but many in Pakistan see it as a ruse to flee the country and avoid the litany of criminal cases against him dating back to his 1999-2008.

Musharraf was indicted for treason in March over his imposition of emergency rule in 2007 — a case seen as a test of civilian authority in a country long dominated by the military.

He also faces several murder cases and his name has been added to the official “exit control list” of people barred from leaving Pakistan.

PM orders action over murdered woman

Pakistan’s prime minister Thursday demanded “immediate action” over the brutal murder of a pregnant woman who was bludgeoned to death with bricks outside a courthouse while police stood by.

Farzana Parveen was attacked on Tuesday outside the High Court building in the eastern city of Lahore by more than two dozen brick-wielding attackers, including her brother and father, for marrying against the wishes of her family. Hundreds of women are murdered by relatives in Pakistan each year supposedly to defend family “honor,” but the brazen nature of the attack, in broad daylight and in the center of the country’s second-largest city, has shocked rights activists.