Court Clears Way for Musharraf Re-election Bid

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The New York Sun

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Supreme Court removed the main obstacle to President Musharraf’s bid for another five years in power when it dismissed legal challenges to his candidacy today.

The judges’ 6-3 ruling was hailed by the government and reviled by the opposition, which vowed to keep fighting to sideline him. It keeps the way clear for the American-allied military leader to contest the October 6 election while still holding the powerful position of army chief.

“Absolutely, there is no hurdle for it,” Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum said. The ruling coalition says it has enough support among the federal and provincial lawmakers who will vote to ensure Mr. Musharraf’s victory.

Presiding Judge Rana Bhagwandas gave no immediate reason for the ruling which drew howls of protests from lawyers in the gallery of the packed, cavernous courtroom.

“These petitions are held to be non-maintainable,” Judge Bhagwandas said, to chants of, “Shame, shame!” and “Go, Musharraf, go!”

Mr. Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, has faced growing political opposition since his failed attempt to oust Pakistan’s top judge in March and is struggling to contain growing Islamic militancy.

With his popularity and clout eroding, the general has said he would leave his army role if he wins the election and so restore civilian rule in a country that has lurched between unstable elected governments and military’s regimes during its 60-year history.

The government has insisted all along that Mr. Musharraf is a qualified candidate. Critics have countered that he cannot run because he has retained his military position.

A spokesman for Mr. Musharraf, Rashid Quereshi, said the president “respects and honors” the ruling.

“Justice triumphs,” Mr. Quereshi added.

But the ruling bitterly disappointed activists from the opposition and the legal fraternity who saw the case as an acid test of whether the judiciary, rejuvenated by its success in blocking the chief justice’s ouster, could keep the military out of politics.

About 100 supporters from an Islamist opposition party threw tomatoes and eggs at the court’s front gate as they chanted slogans against the president. Police kept them separated from about 100 Musharraf supporters.

A lawmaker for the Jamaat-e-Islami party which had filed one of the several petitions challenging Mr. Musharraf’s eligibility to run, Farid Piracha, said he refused to accept the decision.

“The judges have not fulfilled their constitutional obligation,” Mr. Piracha said. “Now our fight against dictatorship will be on the streets. … This decision does not reflect the sentiments of the people, and it will not be accepted.”

The acting leader of exiled leader Nawaz Sharif’s party, Javed Hashmi, said their lawmakers would resign from Parliament — an opposition strategy aiming to rob the election of legitimacy.

“We thought the judiciary had become independent. But what we have seen today shows that we have a long way to go,” a lawyer for politician Imran Khan, Hamid Khan, said. “It is a wrong decision and it will be proven wrong by the history of Pakistan.”

Tomorrow, the Election Commission is due to assess the eligibility of the 43 presidential candidates. The main challenger to Mr. Musharraf is likely to be a retired justice, Wajihuddin Ahmed, nominated by lawyers.

The vice chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, was also nominated but the PPP has said he would only run if Mr. Musharraf were disqualified.

The PPP, the party of Benazir Bhutto, is still holding out hope of a power-sharing deal with Mr. Musharraf after parliamentary elections due by January. But she told CNN yesterday that she was increasingly pessimistic.

“I worry that time is running out,” she said.

Ms. Bhutto plans to return next month from self-exile. She has threatened to withdraw her lawmakers from Parliament if Mr. Musharraf does not compromise. She wants an amendment in the constitution that would allow her to serve a third term as prime minister if elected.

A senator for Jamaat-e-Islami party, Khursheed Ahmad, said they would ask the court to review its decision. The head of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Munir Malik, said more legal challenges would follow the Election Commission’s expected approval of Mr. Musharraf’s nomination.

“The war is not over. It was a skirmish. It was disappointing. But we will be back,” Mr. Malik said.

Authorities have gone to great lengths to forestall any street protests planned by Mr. Musharraf’s opponents. Some 200 or more opposition activists have been arrested since Saturday, drawing rare public criticism from America, Pakistan’s main ally.

But yesterday the Supreme Court ordered their release and said they should be compensated. It also ordered police to lift a security lockdown on the capital.


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