Musharraf’s papers for NA-48, NA-250 rejected; accepted for NA-32

[Slav Defence]

KARACHI: Former President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s nomination papers for NA-48 as well as NA-250 were rejected but accepted for NA-32 on Sunday, DawnNews reported.

The returning officer of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected the papers for NA 250 on the basis of Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

Musharraf’s spokesperson, Aasia Ishaque, told Dawn.com that the former military ruler refused to appear before the returning officer at the time of filing the nomination papers because he said the objections against his candidature were flimsy and vague.

Ishaque further added that Musharraf will be appealing the rejection of the nomination papers in front of the election tribunal.

In the far northern town of Chitral, close to the Afghan border, officials approved Musharraf’s candidature, an AFP journalist witnessed.

“His papers are in order. He is not convicted so far so we cannot disqualify him,” returning officer Jamal Khan said.

But in the retired general’s home city of Karachi, officials turned down his nomination on charges of violating the constitution and sacking top judges.

Returning officer Ikramur Rehman upheld objections raised by his rivals that Musharraf had violated the constitution and sacked top judges by imposing emergency rule in 2007.

“This is a biased decision,” his party official Afzal Agha said, adding that an appeal would be filed against rejection of Musharraf’s nomination.

Musharraf had also filed nomination papers for NA-139 Kasur. However, his papers were also rejected earlier this week when Maulana Javid Kasuri, a leader of Jamaat-i-Islaami, raised objections against his candidature.

The Supreme Court will also hear a petition, accusing Musharraf of treason, on Monday. The petition has been filed by the Lahore High Court Bar Association accusing the former military ruler of subverting the Constitution.

The former Army chief returned to Pakistan on March 24 to contest the general elections after spending more than four years in self-imposed exile.

Meanwhile, PML-N leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s nomination papers for Rawalpindi’s NA-52 were accepted.

 

[Argus Panoptes]

How can papers be rejected in one constituency on grounds of violating 62/63 and be acceptable in another? This appears like arbitrary and capricious application of the law, which is absolutely wrong. Either the grounds of one rejection apply to all seats a candidate is standing for, or one acceptance applies to all the seats contested. Any other situation is unacceptable from a legal standpoint.

 

[haviZsultan]

I wonder how much of this is true:

The former president and military chief General (retd) Pervez Musharraf owns assets worth Rs645.011 million in and outside of the country, but has made zero contribution in terms of tax.

All of us are prone to abuse our power at one time or the other. Generals should be exemplars and paragons of righteousness. Their job is not to rule but to ensure the population of this country is well defended.