World | Pakistan
Lawyers nominate retired judge to run against Musharraf
The lawyer community yesterday nominated retired supreme court judge Wajihuddin Ahmad as its candidate to take on President Pervez Musharraf in the October 6 presidential election.
- By Shahid Hussain, Correspondent
- Published: 00:23 September 25, 2007
Islamabad: The lawyer community yesterday nominated retired supreme court judge Wajihuddin Ahmad as its candidate to take on President Pervez Musharraf in the October 6 presidential election.
The president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Munir A. Malik, announced the candidacy of Ahmad, who had also served as chief justice of the Sindh High Court before his promotion as a judge of the top court.
Ahmad was among six judges who opted out of service after the 1999 military coup that brought Musharraf to power by refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to the military-led dispensation.
Malik said Ahmad had given his consent to the nomination. The decision to challenge Musharraf in the election was based on moral grounds amid tell-tale numbers in the electoral college, he added.
Objections
Malik said that Ahmad would raise objections to Musharraf's candidacy on constitutional grounds that when he submitted his nomination papers to the Election Commission on September 27.
The All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM), facing a police crackdown that has seen leaders and workers being detained over the past several days, has announced that legislators aligned with the alliance would resign on September 29 in a bid to block Musharraf's re-election bid.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League welcomed Ahmad's nomination as a recognition of constitutionality of presidential election by lawyers. "This development manifests that the lawyers, unlike the opposition parties, have rejected politics of strikes and resignations. The legal fraternity has removed all questions raised by the opposition regarding the legality of the presidential election," said Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani.
'Preventive action' to keep the peace - PM
Police sources said more arrests of activists of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) parties had been effected across the Punjab province yesterday.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told reporters that the arrests were part of "preventive action" by the government to ensure a peaceful environment.
He, however, said that only a handful of opposition politicians had been taken into custody and that most of them had only been placed under house detention.
The APDM parties plan to besiege the Election Commission on September 29, the day it is slated to scrutinise nomination papers of presidential candidates and announce a final list.
The Supreme Court is expected to give its verdict this week - one that will be crucial for both the government and the opposition - on the petitions against Musharraf's legal and constitutional authority to stand for re-election.
The Election Commission said yesterday that around 50 people in the country had obtained nomination papers from the commission with the intention of running for the office of president.
"They belong to different walks of life," said Election Commission secretary Kunwar Dilshad.
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