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High court judges disqualified former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday from running in the parliamentary election, likely ending any hope of a political comeback.
The ruling was the latest blow for Musharraf, who has faced paltry public support, a raft of legal challenges and Taliban death threats since he returned to Pakistan last month after years in self-imposed exile.
Many experts predicted this would be Musharraf's fate if he came back and have been scratching their heads at what drove his decision. Some have speculated he misjudged how much public backing he would get, while others guessed he was simply homesick.
Musharraf received a rare piece of good news over a week ago when a judge in the remote northern district of Chitral approved his bid to run in the May 11 election, even though he was disqualified in three other districts for suspending the constitution and sacking senior judges while ruling Pakistan.
Pakistan's political system allows a candidate to run for multiple seats simultaneously.
Lawyers challenged the Chitral decision, and on Tuesday the high court in the main northwestern city of Peshawar disqualified Musharraf from running in the district, said two of the lawyers who raised objections, Taufiq Asif and Rao Abdur Rahim.
Asif challenged Musharraf's candidacy because of his actions while in power, while Rahim said there were procedural flaws with the former military ruler's nomination.
Pakistan Elections.JPEG
Aasia Ishaq, a spokeswoman for Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League party, condemned the court's ruling and said the entire process was "biased."
"They are just targeting Pervez Musharraf," Ishaq said.
She said the party would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court and field candidates for nearly 200 national and provincial assembly seats even if Musharraf is disqualified.
Ashraf Gujar, a Pakistani constitutional expert, said he thought there was only a "remote" chance that the Supreme Court would overturn the ruling.
Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999 and ruled for nearly a decade before he was forced to step down in 2008. He came back to Pakistan last month to stage a political comeback after four years in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai.
But it has been a bumpy return.
Only a couple thousand people turned out at the airport in the southern city of Karachi to greet the former military strongman when his plane from Dubai landed on March 24, a sign of how little support analysts say he enjoys in the country. A few days later, an angry lawyer threw a shoe at Musharraf as he walked through a court building in Karachi.
Musharraf faces a variety of legal charges, including some related to the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He has not been arrested because he arranged pre-arrest bail before he arrived, a feature of Pakistan's legal system.
The Supreme Court is also hearing petitions from lawyers alleging Musharraf committed treason while in office, an offense that can be punished by death or life in prison. He has been barred from leaving the country while there are legal challenges against him.
Amid all of this, the Pakistani Taliban have threatened to assassinate Musharraf. The militants released a video the day before Musharraf returned to Pakistan saying they had set up a special death squad to target him.
There is also concern that attacks by the Taliban and other militants could hamper next month's election.
Pakistan's Musharraf Disqualified From Election - ABC News
The ruling was the latest blow for Musharraf, who has faced paltry public support, a raft of legal challenges and Taliban death threats since he returned to Pakistan last month after years in self-imposed exile.
Many experts predicted this would be Musharraf's fate if he came back and have been scratching their heads at what drove his decision. Some have speculated he misjudged how much public backing he would get, while others guessed he was simply homesick.
Musharraf received a rare piece of good news over a week ago when a judge in the remote northern district of Chitral approved his bid to run in the May 11 election, even though he was disqualified in three other districts for suspending the constitution and sacking senior judges while ruling Pakistan.
Pakistan's political system allows a candidate to run for multiple seats simultaneously.
Lawyers challenged the Chitral decision, and on Tuesday the high court in the main northwestern city of Peshawar disqualified Musharraf from running in the district, said two of the lawyers who raised objections, Taufiq Asif and Rao Abdur Rahim.
Asif challenged Musharraf's candidacy because of his actions while in power, while Rahim said there were procedural flaws with the former military ruler's nomination.
Pakistan Elections.JPEG
Aasia Ishaq, a spokeswoman for Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League party, condemned the court's ruling and said the entire process was "biased."
"They are just targeting Pervez Musharraf," Ishaq said.
She said the party would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court and field candidates for nearly 200 national and provincial assembly seats even if Musharraf is disqualified.
Ashraf Gujar, a Pakistani constitutional expert, said he thought there was only a "remote" chance that the Supreme Court would overturn the ruling.
Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999 and ruled for nearly a decade before he was forced to step down in 2008. He came back to Pakistan last month to stage a political comeback after four years in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai.
But it has been a bumpy return.
Only a couple thousand people turned out at the airport in the southern city of Karachi to greet the former military strongman when his plane from Dubai landed on March 24, a sign of how little support analysts say he enjoys in the country. A few days later, an angry lawyer threw a shoe at Musharraf as he walked through a court building in Karachi.
Musharraf faces a variety of legal charges, including some related to the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He has not been arrested because he arranged pre-arrest bail before he arrived, a feature of Pakistan's legal system.
The Supreme Court is also hearing petitions from lawyers alleging Musharraf committed treason while in office, an offense that can be punished by death or life in prison. He has been barred from leaving the country while there are legal challenges against him.
Amid all of this, the Pakistani Taliban have threatened to assassinate Musharraf. The militants released a video the day before Musharraf returned to Pakistan saying they had set up a special death squad to target him.
There is also concern that attacks by the Taliban and other militants could hamper next month's election.
Pakistan's Musharraf Disqualified From Election - ABC News
