Islamabad: Pakistan yesterday scrapped pending corruption cases against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and other politicians as the Supreme Court threw President Pervez Musharraf's re-election bid into chaos by ruling that the winner cannot be declared before legal challenges are resolved.
The top court, however, rejected pleas to suspend the presidential election and allowed the Election Commission to hold the polls as scheduled today.
A day away from the election, Musharraf bolstered his position by signing a landmark reconciliation deal with Bhutto that paves the way for a power-sharing deal.
The decree signed by Musharraf yesterday quashes 11 pending corruption cases against Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari that drove her into exile eight years ago. The charges involved $1.5 billion that she and her spouse allegedly siphoned off.
Separately, Supreme Court chief judge Javed Iqbal said after hearing challenges to the presidential poll: "The bench has unanimously resolved and directed that the election process should proceed as per schedule ... But final notification of the returning candidate will not be issued until the decision of this petition, for which the process is to begin from October 17."