AGL 38.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.78 (-1.97%)
AIRLINK 129.50 Decreased By ▼ -1.72 (-1.31%)
BOP 7.15 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (4.99%)
CNERGY 4.62 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.91%)
DCL 8.42 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.24%)
DFML 41.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.47 (-1.13%)
DGKC 81.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.49 (-0.6%)
FCCL 32.66 Decreased By ▼ -0.44 (-1.33%)
FFBL 72.33 Decreased By ▼ -0.54 (-0.74%)
FFL 12.37 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.9%)
HUBC 109.70 Decreased By ▼ -1.04 (-0.94%)
HUMNL 14.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.41 (-2.83%)
KEL 5.08 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-2.12%)
KOSM 7.63 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.26%)
MLCF 38.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.50 (-1.29%)
NBP 69.57 Increased By ▲ 5.56 (8.69%)
OGDC 189.25 Decreased By ▼ -3.57 (-1.85%)
PAEL 25.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-0.74%)
PIBTL 7.45 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (1.5%)
PPL 150.45 Decreased By ▼ -3.62 (-2.35%)
PRL 25.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.43 (-1.66%)
PTC 17.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.56 (-3.14%)
SEARL 81.05 Decreased By ▼ -1.25 (-1.52%)
TELE 7.63 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-1.68%)
TOMCL 33.08 Decreased By ▼ -0.38 (-1.14%)
TPLP 8.33 Decreased By ▼ -0.16 (-1.88%)
TREET 17.02 Increased By ▲ 0.40 (2.41%)
TRG 57.65 Increased By ▲ 0.25 (0.44%)
UNITY 28.09 Increased By ▲ 0.58 (2.11%)
WTL 1.34 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-2.19%)
BR100 10,545 Increased By 40.3 (0.38%)
BR30 30,991 Decreased By -235.4 (-0.75%)
KSE100 98,543 Increased By 463.2 (0.47%)
KSE30 30,736 Increased By 176.9 (0.58%)

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Chief Election Commissioner to go ahead with the polling for the election for President as per schedule on Saturday but forbade it from issuing notification of the returned candidate till the final decision of the petitions against General Musharraf.
The Senate, National Assembly and four provincial assemblies are the electoral college for the election of the President for a five-year term. Two presidential candidates Amin Fahim and Wajihuddin Ahmad have petitioned for postponement of the polling till the court decision. The 10-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Javed Iqbal, heard counsel for the petitioners, the President, the federal government, and the Attorney General for two days and gave its unanimous verdict on Friday as under:
"Having heard the learned counsel for the parties at some length, it is unanimously resolved and directed that the election process already commenced shall continue as per the schedule notified by the Chief Election Commission of Pakistan, but the final notification of the election of the returned candidate shall not be issued till the final decision of these petitions. The main petitions shall be set down for hearing on 17.10.2007."
Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum and counsel for the Federation Waseem Sajjad hailed the court verdict as their success on several counts as follows :
(a) The ten member bench has unanimously dismissed the stay applications and allowed the election process to continue.
(b) The court has not rejected the nomination papers, and allowed General Musharraf to contest the election in uniform.
(c) The court has not declared the impugned amendments made by the CEC in the election rules as ultra vires.
(d) The CEC has not been restrained from announcing the result of Saturday's polling.
(e) The court has accepted the current assemblies as the valid electoral college for the election of the President.
Qayyum and Sajjad said that the court had accepted all suggestions of the government. Only a formal, official notification will not be issued. "President Musharraf can hold the office till November 15, and the decision of these petitions will be announced before that date," Qayyum said.
Tariq Mahmood,counsel for Wajihuddin, described the court verdict as "half victory" as the court did not give Musharraf a clean chit, and restrained issuance of notification of the successful candidate. Lawyers for Amin Fahim said that the decision was "not a setback" but rather it was in favour of the opposition lawyers.
A former chief justice of the Supreme Court, Sajjad Ali Shah, described the court ruling as the best under the prevailing circumstances. However, some political analysts said that despite Saturday's polling for the election of the President, political uncertainty would not end, and despite majority of votes, General Musharraf would not be declared as elected till a decision on the main petitions, which might take more than a month.
The bench comprised Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmad, Justice Jamshed Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2007

Comments

Comments are closed.