Rule of law shall evade Pakistan if Musharraf allowed to file nomination papers: Rabbani

PPP leader Khurshid Shah doubts former dictator will return to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani censured the top court’s decision allowing former dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf to file nomination papers for the upcoming general polls.

In a statement issued on Friday, Rabbani said: “the rule of law shall evade Pakistan if Musharraf is allowed to file his nomination papers.” The senior politician noted that the retired army general had been declared as absconder by a special court trying him for treason under Article 6 of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.



“He fraudulently misled the court, on the pretext of ill-health and has since then been absconding the country,” said Rabbani. Dwelling further, he said Musharraf has been declared an absconder in two other cases; the judges detention case being heard by special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) and in the murder of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto.

“It is a matter of grave concern that a person who has been declared an absconder and whose warrants of arrest have been issued by various courts in the country has been allowed to file his nomination papers, conditionally,” the statement reads. “It appears that those who abrogated or hold the Constitution in abeyance and are fugitive from justice are at a premium in Pakistan.”

The Supreme Court has summoned the erstwhile president on June 13 in response to a petition against a 2013 Peshawar High Court (PHC) judgment disqualifying him for life for promulgating Emergency in November, 2007.  The apex court had assured Musharraf’s counsel that the former president would not be arrested while returning officers were directed to receive his nomination papers for the elections subject to case outcome.

The decision was also criticised by PPP leader Khurshid Shah who expressed his doubt over Musharraf appearing before the court. “He will not come to Pakistan.”