Musharraf challenges Peshawar High Court verdict
Asks the apex court to remove restrictions barring him from elections.
Pervez Musharraf. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Days after the government announced it would try General (retd) Pervez Musharraf for treason, the former military ruler appealed to the Supreme Court on Saturday to lift the restriction barring him from contesting general elections.
Analysts interpret the move as a strong sign that Musharraf is ready to face every single case against him as he challenged the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict barring him from contesting elections.
The former president filed a petition seeking restoration of returning officer’s order which allowed him to contest general elections from Chitral.
A four-member bench headed by the PHC chief justice had dismissed Musharraf’s appeal against rejection of his nomination papers by returning officer on April 16 filed for NA-32 Chitral seat and had placed a lifetime ban on him.
In its ruling the court said that Musharraf had twice violated the constitution and detained judges of superior judiciary, so he could not be allowed to contest the polls.
On Saturday, the former president filed a petition through his counsel Malik Qamar Afzal and raised legal and constitutional issues regarding the jurisdiction and the judicial authority of the PHC to disqualify him.
The petition has nominated Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as respondent in the case. In his petition the former president has taken the plea that the PHC decision to bar him from contesting election was a violation of fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1949 and provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan.
The petition said reliance on the judgment passed in absentia was an illegal exercise of the courts’ jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, three lawyers refused to record statement at Pervez Musharraf’s Chak Shahzad farmhouse that was declared as a sub-jail by the court in judges’ detention case.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2013.
Days after the government announced it would try General (retd) Pervez Musharraf for treason, the former military ruler appealed to the Supreme Court on Saturday to lift the restriction barring him from contesting general elections.
Analysts interpret the move as a strong sign that Musharraf is ready to face every single case against him as he challenged the Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict barring him from contesting elections.
The former president filed a petition seeking restoration of returning officer’s order which allowed him to contest general elections from Chitral.
A four-member bench headed by the PHC chief justice had dismissed Musharraf’s appeal against rejection of his nomination papers by returning officer on April 16 filed for NA-32 Chitral seat and had placed a lifetime ban on him.
In its ruling the court said that Musharraf had twice violated the constitution and detained judges of superior judiciary, so he could not be allowed to contest the polls.
On Saturday, the former president filed a petition through his counsel Malik Qamar Afzal and raised legal and constitutional issues regarding the jurisdiction and the judicial authority of the PHC to disqualify him.
The petition has nominated Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as respondent in the case. In his petition the former president has taken the plea that the PHC decision to bar him from contesting election was a violation of fundamental rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1949 and provisions of the Constitution of Pakistan.
The petition said reliance on the judgment passed in absentia was an illegal exercise of the courts’ jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, according to media reports, three lawyers refused to record statement at Pervez Musharraf’s Chak Shahzad farmhouse that was declared as a sub-jail by the court in judges’ detention case.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2013.