Islamabad, Oct 9 (IANS): Pakistan's apex court Wednesday granted bail to former president Pervez Musharraf in connection with the murder of a senior tribal elder, his defence lawyers said.

The bail raised hope for the release of Musharraf, who has been under house arrest in Islamabad for more than six months, Xinhua reported.

A two-member bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court ruled that substantial evidence was not available to implicate Musharraf in the criminal conspiracy regarding the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti who was killed in a military operation in 2006 in southwestern Balochistan province.

The Anti-Terrorist Court and the high court earlier rejected Musharraf's bail plea on technical grounds and the Supreme Court was the authority to rule on the matter, his defence lawyer Ibrahim Satti said.

Musharraf has already been granted bail in two other cases, including the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Musharraf, who resigned in 2008, returned to Pakistan in March this year after over four years of living in exile.