Dawn : Lawyers say stopping presidential vote will prevent chaos

Lawyers say stopping presidential vote will prevent chaos

AFP | October 4, 2007

ISLAMABAD - Halting President Pervez Musharraf's re-election bid is in the national interest and will prevent a “chaotic situation”, opposition lawyers told Pakistan's supreme court Thursday.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on Friday on last-ditch appeals by Musharraf's two rivals in the presidential election, which is scheduled for the following day.

The comments came after the head of the 10-judge panel hearing the case, justice Javed Iqbal, asked: “Will postponement of the presidential election be in the interest of the people of Pakistan?”

Hamid Khan, lawyer for rival candidate Wajihuddin Ahmad, replied: “There will be a chaotic situation in the country if these elections are held and that is why we are seeking a stay order for the presidential elections.”

Government lawyers argued that delaying the election would subject Pakistan to international ridicule. “People will laugh at us if the election is postponed,” attorney general Malik Qayyum told the court.

But another of the judges, justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, asked if it would make any difference if the vote was postponed by a few days.

“We will become a laughing stock if the president is administered an oath by the chief justice, he starts functioning, and then he is told he is not qualified and then he steps down,” Ramday said.