Supreme Court rules that Musharraf can stand

FE Team | Published: September 29, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Farhan Bokhari, FT Syndication Service
ISLAMABAD: General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military ruler, on Friday received an unexpected boost to his beleaguered position when the country's supreme court dismissed two petitions challenging his decision to contest the presidential election next Saturday (October 6) while still serving as chief of the country's powerful military.
"As per majority of six-three(six versus three), the petitions are not maintainable" announced Rana Bhagwandas, a senior judge of the supreme court, heading a nine member bench which heard the case.
Analysts said the outcome of the case could be an important trend setter for the south Asian country which has remained under military rule for more than half its 60 years existence as an independent state.
Earlier this month, General Musharraf in a statement to the supreme court promised to step down as head of the military by November 15 this year. However, General Musharraf still faced legal challenges by his opponents, many of whom believe that his position will be significantly weakened if he was to contest for the presidency after his retirement from the military.
The government immediately welcomed Friday's decision. "We are happy that this decision has come. We maintained from day one that the president had the right to conduct the election" said Tariq Azeem, minister of state for information.
The verdict was particularly heartening to General Musharraf's regime in view of the tensions it has faced with the supreme court during the past six months. On March 9, General Musharraf suspended Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary, chief justice of the supreme court, on vague charges of misconduct. Mr Chaudhary contested the charges and was restored back to his office in July this year in a landmark verdict, widely hailed in Pakistan as evidence of the supreme court's independence from the influence of the powerful military.
However, lawyers who have vocally called for General Musharraf to step down on Friday reacted angrily to the decision. "This matter has not been settled. We will use every opportunity to fight our case against General Musharraf" said Ali Ahmed Kurd, a senior lawyer who was among those who campaigned for Mr Chaudhary's restoration.
Lawyers including Mr Kurd renewed their pledge to go ahead with plans for protesting outside the offices of the election commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Saturday - the day when nomination papers for the presidential election candidate are due to be finally scrutinised.
Altogether there are 45 candidates for the presidential election. However, General Musharraf is among the three candidates who are taken seriously. The other two candidates are Wajihuddin Ahmed, a widely respected former judge and Amin Faheem, a senior leader of the opposition Pakistan People's Party (PPP).