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PML (N) sees Musharraf’s hand

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League (N) said on Monday it suspected President Pervez Musharraf’s hand in the Lahore High Court disqualification of its leader Nawaz Sharif from the June 26 by-election to the National Assembly.

A full Bench of the High Court upheld a petition challenging an earlier decision by the Election Commission allowing Mr. Sharif to contest the parliamentary election from NA-123, a constituency in Lahore.

The High Court is yet to decide on another petition challenging the election of Shahbaz Sharif to the provincial assembly, and has allowed him to continue as the Punjab Chief Minister pending the disposal of the case.

The petitioner challenged the acceptance of the PML (N) leader’s nomination papers on the basis of his 2000 conviction on charges of hijacking a plane in October 1999, in which the retired General Musharraf, then the Army chief, was returning to Pakistan. Neither Mr. Sharif nor his lawyers appeared before the court because of the PML (N) leader’s position that he does not recognize as legal the judges who were appointed by the retired General Musharraf during his November 2007 Emergency rule. But there were at least 16 indirect representations on his behalf, all of which were summarily by the Lahore High Court.

PML (N) leaders said it was doubtful Mr. Sharif would appeal the decision in the Supreme Court, which is also packed with the “provisional constitutional order” judges, so-called because they swore allegiance to the Emergency law while taking the oath of office.

Earlier this year, too, Mr. Sharif was disqualified by election officials from the February 18 election on identical grounds. Then too, Mr. Sharif did not appeal the decision as he did not want to appear before judges he considered “illegal.” This time, the Election Commission had accepted his nomination for the by-election. The petitioner, an unknown person who is not directly affected by the nomination as he is not a rival candidate, then took his challenge to the Supreme Court, which directed the Lahore High Court to take up the matter.

PML (N) spokesman Ahsan Iqbal has accused the retired General Musharraf for Mr. Sharif’s disqualification by the Lahore High Court. “This is a pre-emptive strike by Musharraf to prevent Nawaz Sharif from entering the National Assembly. This is the return of Musharraf,” said Mr. Iqbal.

Mr. Sharif said earlier this month that he would not rest until he made the retired General Musharraf accountable for every action, suggesting at a public rally in Islamabad that he should be hanged. Mr. Iqbal said it was a “mockery of democracy” that Parliament’s doors were closed to Mr. Sharif, a two-time former Prime Minister who was found in a recent survey by the U.S.-based Terror Free Tomorrow to be “the most popular” politician in the country, with 86 per cent of respondents favouring him.

On Sunday, the PML (N) assisted in the passage of the PPP-led government’s first budget, which also included a clause on increasing the number of judges in the Supreme Court from 16 to 29. The controversial clause was widely seen as a move to retain Musharraf-appointed judges while reinstating the deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary. The PML (N) abstained from voting.

But on Monday, the party lashed out against the “PCO judges.” Javed Hashmi, a PML (N) leader, said the disqualification was “a decision by a kangaroo court,” and the judges were “illegitimate children of an illegitimate act by Pervez Musharraf.”

The court’s decision also provoked angry protests by the PML (N) in Lahore and other parts of the Punjab, where the party heads the ruling coalition. PML (N) legislators demonstrated and shouted slogans against the President and judges.

Munir A Malik, a former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said Mr. Sharif’s disqualification was “expected.” “What can you expect from judges who have taken oath under the provisional constitutional order?” he said.

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