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Adjournment may pose complications to Musharraf’s candidacy: lawyer

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s term as head of state will end on November 15, his lawyers told the Supreme Court in a written submission on Thursday.

But the court adjourning the case to September 17 may pose complications to the leader’s candidacy in the Presidential elections, the petitioner’s lawyer said.

The written reply came in response to Wednesday’s direction from Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary to government lawyers on a petition filed by Jamat-e-Islami.

It challenges a 2004 Act of Parliament that allowed Gen. Musharraf to hold the dual offices of President and Army chief.

After the government side handed in the reply, President’s counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada asked the court to stay the hearing of the petition. For, another petition by the Pakistan Lawyers’ Federation, challenging the 2003 17th Amendment to the Constitution, was being reconsidered by the petitioners on advice from the Chief Justice that “too much water has flown under the bridge.” Would the PLF want to “derail the system” that had been established, especially as elections were coming up, he asked.

But the Chief Justice ignored the request for the stay, and fixed the next hearing of the petition for September 17. In a surprise move, he also appointed as amici curiae three well-known critics of President Musharraf’s decis ion to contest the Presidential election in uniform. They are: the former Law Minister and ruling party senator S.M Zafar, one of the authors of the 1973 Constitution Abdul Hafiz Pirzada and Aitzaz Ahsan, Pakistan Peoples Party parliamentarian and lead counsel for the Chief Justice in his recent legal battle against President Musharraf.

Akram Sheikh, lawyer for the Jamat-e-Islami, told reporters that the implication of the adjournment was that President Musharraf could not file his nomination papers, as the matter was sub judice.

For the Presidential election to be held on schedule, it has to take place between September 15 and October 15.

But Attorney-General Malik Qayuum said the court had not stayed the election, and the President would file his papers. He said any postponement of the election could “trigger a crisis” in the country.

Meanwhile, the call by the Supreme Court Bar Association to lawyers to observe a countrywide “black day” on Thursday against the planned re-election of President Musharraf received mixed response.

Some lawyers gathered outside the Supreme Court chanting “Go Musharraf, Go” and briefly boycotted court proceedings. There were demonstrations in some other cities too but not on the same scale of the protests held demanding reinstatement of the Chief Justice.

PTI reports:

Gen. Musharraf urged his countrymen to revive the national spirit of unity which prevailed during the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

In a message to commemorate Defence Day, which marks the 17-day war 42 years ago, he stressed the need for unity and solidarity to meet the country’s internal threats including “extremism, militancy and obscurantism.”

“I, therefore, urge all Pakistanis to revive in themselves the spirit of 1965, and resolve to make Pakistan a truly dynamic, prosperous and democratic welfare state for the present and future generations.

“The people of Pakistan desire a bright future and pledge to move ahead as an enlightened, moderate and progressive nation, for a country that is politically stable, as well as economically and militarily strong,” the President said. This objective could be achieved only by defeating the “retrogressive” forces.

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