Pakistan's top court heard challenges yesterday to the legality of the re-election of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a day before former prime minister Benazir Bhutto returned from exile.
Musharraf's opponents have petitioned the Supreme Court, claiming that the US-allied strongman was ineligible to contest the Oct. 6 vote.
Government officials insist the poll was held legally, however, the court has ruled that Musharraf's victory can only become official once it rules on the complaints.
The challenge and other politically sensitive cases pending before the court have injected more instability into Pakistan's already turbulent politics.
Opposition parties boycotted the presidential election, leaving Musharraf to gather an overwhelming majority of the votes cast by federal and provincial lawmakers.
The opposition argues it was unconstitutional for an outgoing parliament to choose a new president and that Musharraf is disqualified under a bar on public servants seeking elected office.
Musharraf has promised to quit his powerful position as army chief, but only after securing another five-year presidential mandate. His term and that of parliament expire on Nov. 15.
It was unclear when the court would rule on the case, which has injected more uncertainty into Pakistan's already turbulent politics.
When hearings resumed yesterday, opposition lawyers requested that all the court's justices decide whether Musharraf should be disqualified.
Eleven judges are hearing the case.
"This is a historic burden and the entire court should share it," said Hamid Khan, attorney for a retired judge who contested the presidential election but received only a handful of votes.
The court said it would pass the request to Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.
Chaudhry earlier this year defeated an attempt by Musharraf to fire him, sparking mass protests and spawning a campaign for the restoration of democracy.
Yesterday morning, an estimated 2,000 supporters of exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former cricket star-turned politician Imran Khan marched in separate processions to the court building.
The demonstrators waved party flags and portraits of their leaders and chanted slogans including "Musharraf is America's pet dog" and "Plunderers of the national wealth should be punished not pardoned."
The latter was a reference to a corruption amnesty that Musharraf granted to Bhutto and other politicians last week, but which would not include Sharif.
Bhutto was expected to arrive in Karachi today.
Musharraf has held talks with the two-time prime minister that could see them form a liberal, pro-Western alliance after the elections are complete. Both are echoing US calls for moderates in Pakistan to join forces to combat extremism.
However, the Supreme Court was also examining the legality of the amnesty, which paved the way for her return from eight years of self-exile.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of