Supporters dance with flags featuring an image of Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, and a picture of a tiger, which is the party’s symbol, during an election rally in Rawalpindi yesterday.
PESHAWAR: A Pakistani court yesterday imposed a lifetime ban on former president Pervez Musharraf contesting elections, derailing his efforts to regain influence by winning a seat in parliament.
It was the first time a court in Pakistan had declared a citizen ineligible for contesting elections for life.
The former army chief returned last month after nearly four years of self-imposed exile to contest a May 11 general election, but election officers disqualified him because of court cases pending against him. The High Court in the northwestern city of Peshawar rejected Musharraf’s appeal against the disqualification. Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan imposed the lifetime ban on running for election or becoming a member of parliament.
“The former dictator had ordered senior judges and their families put under house arrest and twice abrogated the country’s constitution,” Khan said when reading out the order.
One of Musharraf’s lawyers, Saad Shibli, said he would go to the Supreme Court to challenge the ruling against his client, claiming the former leader should not be singled out for punishment for his actions while in power since others were involved.
“About 500 officials at different levels and institutions were part of Musharraf’s actions, and if those actions come under scrutiny, all those people should be involved in this matter,” Shibli said.
Instead of triggering a hoped-for groundswell of popular support, Musharraf’s return has backfired. He became the first former army chief to be arrested in Pakistan when police took him into custody at their headquarters last Friday.
On April 20, a court remanded the former president in custody for two weeks, a deadline set to expire on May 4, as judges pushed ahead with plans to put Musharraf on trial for a crackdown on the judiciary during his time in office.
Yesterday, an anti-terrorism court in the garrison city of Rawalpindi put Musharraf on a 14-day judicial remand for charges of failing to provide adequate security for former prime minister Benazir Bhutto before her 2007 assassination.
The new deadline of May 14 means Musharraf will be in detention on election day.
Musharraf also faces accusations in connection with the death of a separatist leader in the southwestern province of Baluchistan. He denies any wrongdoing.
AGENCIES
