Court ‘upholds Musharraf election’

A bench of 10 judges struck down the five main challenges to Musharraf’s right to have contested the election while being still army chief.

Musharraf declared emergency rule and dismissed all hostile judges from the supreme court on November 3.

 

Musharraf has said he will quit as army chief and become a civilian ruler once the court has fully validated his victory in a presidential election last month.

On Sunday Musharraf said he was asking the election commission to call a parliamentary election on January 8.

“Inshallah (God willing), the general elections in the country would be held on January 8,” the official Associated Press of Pakistan news agency quoted Musharraf as saying.

But he gave no date for lifting the state of emergency, despite US pressure over the weekend to put nuclear-armed Pakistan back on a democratic track.