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Way cleared for
triangular race in Pak polls
Objections to Musharraf’s candidature rejected
WSN Network
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan has accepted
nomination papers of Gen Pervez Musharraf and two other contenders
for the presidential polls while outside its offices violent clashes
between law-enforcement personnel and anti-Musharraf protesters
turned the area into a mini-battlefield.
Chief Election
Commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Mohammad Farooq declared valid the
nomination papers of President Pervez Musharraf, his two cover
candidates — Mohammedmian Soomro and Chaudhry Ameer Hussein —
Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, Makhdoom Amin Fahim and his cover
candidate Faryal Talpur. The papers of the other candidates were
rejected.
Some of the representatives and counsel of the candidates walked out
when violence erupted outside the Election Commission.
Sources said
representatives of Justice Wajihuddin and Amin Fahim pleaded before
the Election Commissioner that the Constitution barred Gen Musharraf
from contesting for the office of the president for another term
unless he completed two years after taking off his uniform.
They also
criticised the Chief Election Commissioner for amending election
rules to make disqualification under Article 63 of the Constitution
irrelevant for presidential polls and said it proved that the change
was person-specific and meant to benefit Gen Musharraf.
Leader of the
House in Senate Wasim Sajjad defended President Musharraf and said
that parliament had authorised him to hold dual offices of the
president and army chief.
The Chief Election
Commissioner rejected the objections raised against Gen Musharraf’s
eligibility and ruled he could contest the presidential election.
The decision came
a day after a nine-member bench of the Supreme Court dismissed on
technical grounds petitions against Gen Pervez Musharraf holding two
offices, giving a legal boost to the president to contest the
election for the second term in uniform.
Opposition leaders
and lawyers have announced that they will file a review petition in
the Supreme Court and hold protest rallies across the country.
Munir A. Malik,
president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said the National
Action Committee of lawyers had announced a countrywide strike on
Monday to protest police action against lawyers, journalists and
members of civil society outside the Election Commission.
He also said that
a petition against the EC decision would be filed in the Supreme
Court on Monday by the lawyers’ presidential candidate, Justice (retd)
Wajihuddin Ahmed.
Farhatullah Babar,
spokesman for the Pakistan People’s Party, said that party’s
vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim would challenge the EC decision in
the Supreme Court and Faryal Talpur, the cover candidate for Amin
Fahim, would move the Sindh High Court against the Election
Commission.
Talking to
reporters, Professor Khurshid Ahmed, proposer for Justice Wajihuddin,
alleged that the Chief Election Commissioner was biased and said
that acceptance of Gen Musharraf’s papers would be challenged in the
Supreme Court.
“We boycotted the
scrutiny process because the CEC was not listening to our
objections,” he added.
He said that a
farce of elections was being imposed on the people and alleged that
the CEC had become part of the pre-poll rigging.
Liaquat Baloch,
Naib Amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami, said the MMA was not challenging
the EC decision directly, but it would be supporting the lawyers’
candidate.
However, he said,
the party was considering filing a review petition against the
Supreme Court’s Friday judgment. He said that a final decision would
be taken after receiving the detailed judgment. “It’s a long legal
battle now. The court’s decision once again revived the doctrine of
necessity,” he added.
3 October, 2007
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