Dawn : SC hears Musharraf’s election case

SC hears Musharraf’s election case

PPI | October 5, 2007

ISLAMABAD -- The 10-member larger bench of the Supreme Court headed by justice Javed Iqbal on Friday refused to halt the Presidential election but ruled that the Chief Election Commissioner will not issue the notification of the returned candidate till the decision of the apex court on the pleas.

When the proceedings resumed on Friday, Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum submitted that the process of the presidential election could not be stopped or suspended and the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to interrupt the presidential election process.

He contended that a candidate can be excluded from the election race by rejecting his nomination papers but the court can not postpone the election.

Counsel for General Pervez Musharraf, Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada adopted the arguments of Attorney General and contended that when the election process was underway it could not be interfered by the court.

Mr Pirzada said if the polling was postponed even for some days, it will dislocate every thing and lead towards serious complications.

In his arguments, Federation's counsel Wasim Sajjad submitted that the election of the President will lead the country in returning to complete democratic rule.

He said if the election at this juncture is postponed, it will create many problems.