Court clears way for Musharraf

Islamabad: Pakistan's reconstituted Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the last of several petitions over presidential election, paving the way for General Pervez Musharraf to start his second term as president.

"The petition is dismissed," Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar ruled. A 10-member bench of the Supreme Court said it would issue a written order today after which, according to Attorney General Malek Qayyum, the Election Commission would notify the result of the October 6 presidential election.

Qayyum told reporters the notification would be followed by a separate notification by the federal government and Musharraf would then take oath as civilian president in two to three days.

The court rejected the petition of a homeopathic doctor, Zahoor Mehdi, who had challenged non-acceptance of his nomination papers for the presidential election.

Earlier this week the court had dismissed four other petitions, including two filed by retired judge Wajihuddin Ahmad and another candidate in the presidential election, Makh-doom Ameen Fahim of Pakistan People's Party.

The attorney general said Musharraf would doff his uniform and take oath under the 1973 constitution and not under the provisional constitution order (PCO) that he had issued while imposing emergency rule and suspending the constitution on November 3.

Meanwhile, Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto told party workers to start campaigning for general elections but warned she might still order a boycott of the vote.

In a sign of the splits within the fractious opposition, she gave the green light for Pakistan People's Party candidates to file nomination papers by Monday's deadline despite the emergency.

A committee of Commonwealth foreign ministers was meeting yesterday to decide whether to suspend Pakistan from the 53-nation group.

The Commonwealth gave Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharrafa Thursday deadline to lift emergency and step down as army chief.

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon said the vote would take place on the eve of a summit of Commonwealth heads of government, AFP reported.

The members "are fully aware of all the information flowing out of Islamabad ... They are taking this into account as they address this rather difficult issue," McKinnon told journalists.