Pervez Musharraf challenges rejection of his 2013 poll papers

Islamabad, June 5: Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has challenged the rejection of his nomination papers in 2013 general elections in the Supreme Court, a media report said on Friday.

Musharraf had filed his nomination papers to contest for a National Assembly seat, Dawn online reported.

However, the returning officer rejected the papers on the grounds that he had held in abeyance and suspended the Constitution on November 3, 2007, detained and removed a number of superior court judges and publicly insulted then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Musharraf filed an appeal in an election tribunal in Karachi, which was dismissed on April 16, 2013.

Consequently, he instituted an appeal before the Sindh High Court (SHC), which too rejected it through a short order on April 18, 2013. A detailed judgment was delivered on February 14, 2015.

In his petition filed by Senator Farogh Naseem, the former president requested the Supreme Court to set aside, quash and declare the Sindh High Court verdict illegal and without any basis.

The findings of the returning officer, Musharraf's petition argued, were unlawful, conjectural and fanciful because in the light of treason charges pending before a special court, it was now an admitted position that Musharraf had not acted alone while proclaiming the 2007 Emergency.