International   

We have the numbers: PML (Q)

PHOTO: AP

THE CONTEST BEGINS: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz (second right) and his ally Shujaat Hussain with Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq after submitting the nomination of President Pervez Musharraf for the presidential elections in Islamabad on Thursday.

ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q) exuded the confidence of a winning party on Thursday as it’s Who’s Who turned out in strength at the Election Commission to file nomination papers on behalf of President Pervez Musharraf.

But the election still hinges on the Supreme Court verdict on Gen. Musharraf’s eligibility to contest the election, expected on Friday.

The Opposition threat to resign en masse from the electoral college could also affect the election. At a meeting in Peshawar, the All Party Democracy Movement, an umbrella group of 30 Opposition parties excluding Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, finalised a decision to resign and to dissolve the Opposition Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal-controlled North West Frontier Province Assembly on October 2.

The dissolution of an Assembly may call into question the legality of the election. The Jamait-e-ulema Islam, which dominates the MMA-majority Assembly, was until now in two minds about the resignations and the NWFP dissolution, but appears to have been finally persuaded in favour of this strategy.

In order to dissolve the Assembly, the Chief Minister has to write to the Governor and it will cease to exist in 48 hours. But the President’s camp showed no sign of the worries ahead for it. As many as 17 nominations were filed on behalf of President Musharraf, the main one by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who led a shining motorcade of Cabinet Ministers and PML (Q) parliamentarians to the Election Commission. “We certainly have the numbers to win,” PML(Q) secretary-general Mushahid Hussain told journalists after the nominations were filed.

Scores of slogan-shouting lawyers accompanied Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed to the election office to file his nomination papers. The former Supreme Court judge said he would challenge Gen. Musharraf’s candidature on Saturday during the scrutiny of nominations.

A large contingent of the PPP accompanied deputy leader Makhdomm Amin Fahim also filed his nomination papers With the police sealing the capital and putting up road blocks near the Election Commission and the Supreme Court, the planned Opposition protests outside the Election Commission evaporated, but the harassment caused to the public due to the security cordon drew the ire of the Supreme Court.

Taking suo motu notice, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary ordered their immediate removal, and he also ordered that the Opposition leaders and workers that police have detained in crackdowns since the weekend be released by Thursday evening. The police made an abject apology to the Chief Justice for putting up the blockades, and Opposition leaders, including the PML (N)’s Javed Hashmi, were set free.

Separately, a nine-judge bench headed by Justice Rana Bhagwandas hearing the constitutional petitions against Gen. Musharraf’s eligibility to contest the election, heard presentations by two amicus curiae during the day’s proceedings. The case is adjourned until Friday, when the court is likely to pronounce a verdict.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Security Council urges Myanmar to show restraint
“Myanmar, very corrupt nation”
Brown copied speech?
N. Korea promises results from talks
Dalai Lama meets Angela Merkel
24 Tigers killed in intense fighting
We have the numbers: PML (Q)
Bush accused of bid to derail U.N. climate conference
Three Gorges Dam causing problems, says China
Chidambaram: India should grab nuclear deal
Pranab, Rice review bilateral relations
Benazir Bhutto for peace treaty

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu