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Lawyers move court against Musharraf

— PHOTO: AFP

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf addresses a gathering in Islamabad, in this recent photo.

Islamabad: Lawyers in Pakistan have moved the Supreme Court to restrain President Pervez Musharraf from getting himself re-elected as the head of state for another five-year term.

In an application to the apex court, the Pakistan Lawyers’ Forum (PLF) has pleaded that Gen. Musharraf was not eligible to contest any poll as “he suffers from inherent pre-election disqualification”, the Dawn repo rted on Thursday.

In fact, the lawyers made the plea citing the recent ruling of an 11-member bench of the Supreme Court in the case of the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif versus the President of Pakistan. “Under Article 41 of the Constitution, the President is the head of the state and represents the unity of the republic, and his position is of a non-partisan person,” the bench has held. In its application, the forum said Gen. Musharraf should keep out of politics so that he can maintain his “neutral image” under the Constitution. It also prayed to the apex court to restrain Gen. Musharraf from misusing the neutral, impartial and non-partisan “The President has always been partisan and has been acting as head of a party of political turncoats. The common man takes the PML as Pervez Musharraf League and not Pakistan Muslim League-Q,” the lawyers said.

The forum urged the court to restrain Gen. Musharraf from pre-election rigging, issuing political statements, hobnobbing with political elements and presiding over meetings of the ruling PML-Q. The Corps Commanders and Principal Staff Officers of the Pakistan Army, who had allegedly subverted the Constitution, should also be stopped from taking part in political activities, the lawyers said. Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi has said that the party has not yet decided whether it would support Gen. Musharraf’s re-election for another term.

The MQM Member of National Assembly said that the party has made no commitment with the ruling Pakistan Muslim League or Gen. Musharraf in this regard.

“We neither gave nor were asked to give a commitment,” the Dawn quoted Mr. Rizvi as saying, adding, “We were briefed by President General Musharraf on the issue, but neither our commitment was asked for nor we gave any.”

The MQM is monitoring the situation in the country, and carefully weighing the arguments of supporters and opponents of Gen. Musharraf’s plan to get re-elected from the existing Assemblies in uniform, he said.

Mr. Rizvi pointed out three different opinions about the President’s re-election. Commenting on the MQM’s stand on Gen. Musharraf seeking re-election, he said the party would soon announce its decision. — Agencies

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