Poll hurdle: Musharraf's papers rejected in one seat

Islamabad, April 5: In a blow to political amibitons of former president and military strongman, the nomination papers of Pervez Musharraf, were rejected in one of the four parliamentary constituencies that he is contesting for the May 11 elections in Pakistan.

Musharraf has filed papers to contest elections from four parliamentary seats -- Karachi, Islamabad, Chitral and Kasur.

Returning Officer Mohammad Saleem for Kasur in Punjab province rejected 69-year-old general's nomination papers. It was not clear on what grounds the papers were rejected. One report said, the general's signature did not match the one on his national identity card.

Another reason could be based on the petition filed by a lawyer. The lawyer had objected to Musharraf's candidature on the ground that the former president had violated Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, which specify that candidates should have a "good character" and be "sagacious, righteous and non-profligate".

Even in Islamabad, another person has submitted an objection to Musharraf's nomination papers.

On the poll front, more trouble awaits the former president. A lawyer named Zafarullah has filed an application on behalf of the PML-N in the Election Commission seeking Musharraf's disqualification on the grounds that he is an accused in four cases, including the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti in a 2006 military operation.

The details of the four cases are: the Akbar Bugti killing case relating to murder of the Baloch tribal head Aug 26, 2006; the Lal Masjid case relating to the July 3, 2007 ordering by Musharraf of a military operation against the mosque for challenging the writ of the state. The military besieged the mosque for 12 days before assaulting the compound, an attack in which hundreds of students were killed; the Benazir Bhutto killing case relating to the former prime minister's assassination in Rawalpindi in December 2007; the missing people's case relating to those who had been secretly detained by the intelligence agencies during Musharraf's regime and are still untraced.

Meanwhile, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry will take up on Monday a petition filed by former Rawalpindi High Court Bar Association president Taufiq Asif seeking Musharraf's trial for treason.

Asif's petition was clubbed with two other applications seeking similar action against Musharraf. At the hearing on Monday, the bench will decide whether treason proceedings should be initiated against the former president.

OneIndia News