Gen Musharraf can contest President’s post: SC

Six judges supported the dismissal of petitions challenging Musharraf’s holding of dual office and his plans to get re-elected while three other judges including Justice Rana Bhagwan Das, who headed the bench, held the petitions were maintainable.

General Musharraf, 64, who came to power in 1999 after ousting Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup, had told the apex court recently that if re-elected for a second term, he will quit the post of army chief before taking oath.

Later, Attorney General Malik Mohmmad Qayyum said Musharraf would stay on as Army Chief if he is not re-elected as President.

The verdict is a shot in the arm for Musharraf who has been at loggerheads with the Supreme Court since he suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry in March on charges of misuse of authority, a move that sparked mass protests.

Chaudhry was later reinstated by the Supreme Court.

Musharraf’s main ally the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) has said that it was confident of the General’s victory.

However, the opposition All Parties Democratic Movement floated by Sharif has announced that its lawmakers would resign from National Assembly ahead of the Presidential vote.

Also the Chief Minister of North West Frontier Province, the only one in the country controlled by the opposition, where Islamist alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal is in majority has decided to ask the Governor to dissolve the provincial assembly.