Pak SC dismisses last petition against Musharraf's re-election

Pakistan's Supreme Court packed with judges hand-picked by President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday dismissed the last challenge to his re-election in uniform, paving the way for him to be sworn in for a second term.

The full court of 10 judges headed by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar dismissed the last of the six petitions that had challenged Musharraf's victory in the October 6 presidential poll and validated his re-election.

Musharraf has said he will step down as army chief and assume office as a civilian president once the apex court validates his re-election.

The court had on Monday dismissed five other petitions  including two filed by retired judge Wajihuddin Ahmed and Pakistan People's Party leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who had unsuccessfully contested the presidential election.

The military ruler swept the opposition boycotted poll, but the pre-emergency Supreme Court had stopped the Election Commission from officially declaring the result till it decided on his candidature.

Attorney General Malik Qayyum, who represented Musharraf in the case, has said that the military ruler could be sworn in for a second term as early as Saturday once the apex court gave its verdict.

After imposing emergency on November 3, Musharraf sacked most judges of the superior judiciary, including Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and members of the 11-member bench that was originally hearing the petitions challenging his re-election. 

A full court headed by Chief Justice Dogar, comprising judges who were sworn in under the Provisional Constitutional Order issued by Musharraf, had taken up the case.

Legal experts have said one of the key reasons for the imposition of emergency was Musharraf's fears that the former apex court could have struck down his victory in the presidential poll that was boycotted by the opposition.

Former premier Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party did not vote in the poll while members of other opposition parties had resigned from the national and provincial assemblies in a bid to rob it of credibility.