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Anger in Pakistan legal community

— Photo: AFP

DISSENTING NOTE: Lawyers raise anti-Musharraf slogans outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Friday after it ruled that Pervez Musharraf can run for President next month while keeping his post as army chief.

ISLAMABAD: The verdict was not unexpected. But the court’s decision to throw out petitions challenging the eligibility of President Pervez Musharraf to contest the October 6 presidential election caused anger and disappointment in the legal community whose agitation for the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary has turned over the months into a struggle against military rule.

“I am very, very disappointed that after all the hearings for last two weeks, the court dismissed the petitions on a preliminary objection. It was such an important issue,” said Justice (retd) Tariq Mahmood, a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).

Lawyers rushed out of the courtroom after the verdict raising slogans against Gen. Musharraf’s advocates, and gathering on the steps of the Supreme Court, declared a “black day” on Saturday.

“Lawyers in every part of the country will be on strike tomorrow. No more legal battles. Henceforth the battle is on the streets,” said Ali Ahmed Kurd, a prominent leader of the lawyers’ community, calling for a protest demonstration from the Supreme Court to the Election Commission, where nomination papers will be scrutinised.

“We are not coming back to this building. We don’t care about this building,” said an emotionally-charged Mr. Kurd.

But the Supreme Court Bar Association said it would also continue legal efforts to knock out Gen. Musharraf from the election.

Hamid Khan, advocate for JI leader Qazi Hussain and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, said the judges had “abdicated” their jurisdiction by dismissing the petitions on technical grounds.

But Mr. Khan pointed out that the verdict did not say anything about Gen. Musharraf’s eligibility to contest the elections.

“We can still challenge that. We will contest his eligibility before the Election Commission, and that’s one reason why we have put up such a credible candidate,” Mr. Khan said referring to Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, who filed his nomination on Thursday.

Mr. Ahmed has already submitted a list of objections to Gen. Musharraf’s nomination, mainly dealing with the disqualifications listed under Article 63. As the Election Commission has changed the rules of the election so that a nomination cannot be challenged by the provisions of this article to favour Gen. Musharraf — Friday’s verdict said nothing about this — the lawyers said they would knock on the doors of the Supreme Court again if turned away by the Chief Election Commissioner.

Akram Sheikh, counsel for Jamat-i-Islami, said he was under instructions from his client to file a review petition on Monday.

“Unfortunately this is not a judgment that will either enhance the prestige of the Supreme Court or of the country. I see all pervasive state intimidation.”

Hamid Khan also questioned the independence of the judiciary, and said the September 10 deportation of the former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, in violation of the court’s orders, was a “turning point” in this respect.

“The message from that was clear, that they will do anything to intimidate the judiciary,” Mr. Khan said.

The lawyer said all judges are “not independent yet,” the reason why the petitioners wanted a full court to decide the cases, a plea that was rejected. “We fell into the wrong hands,” Mr. Khan said.

Denying that the government had exerted any pressure, Attorney-General Malik Qayyum asked if this was the case, why had the government not influenced the bench in the Chief Justice’s case in July or in Nawaz Sharif’s case last month.

He said President Musharraf, who the lawyers described as a “military dictator” was prepared to accept all judgments by the Supreme Court, but the lawyers, who said they were for the rule of law, were not prepared to accept this particular verdict as it went against them.

Gen. Musharraf’s spokesman Maj. Gen. (retd) Rashid Qureshi told the official news agency APP that “the President respects and honours the Supreme Court verdict.” “Justice triumphs,” he said, when asked for comments about the verdict.

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