ISLAMABAD, 20 September 2007 — Pakistan’s Supreme Court observed yesterday that the constitution was violated when the opposition alliance of religious parties, the Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal, supported President Pervez Musharraf in retaining his army post while president.

Justice Javed Iqbal, one of the judges of the nine-member bench hearing petitions against Musharraf’s presidency and army post, said yesterday the opposition grouping violated the constitution when they supported Musharraf through a constitutional amendment allowing him to hold two offices.

Justice Iqbal made his observation when Imran Khan’s lawyer accused President Musharraf of not honoring his commitment he made when the opposition alliance helped him in the passage of the 17th Constitutional Amendment that allowed him to hold the post of the army chief and stay as president.

Another judge on the penal, Justice Falak Sher, observed, “Why did the MMA not object to President Musharraf’s retaining dual offices when it signed an agreement with him.”

Imran’s lawyer Hamid Khan argued that Gen. Musharraf should have resigned from the army after attaining the age of 60. He said Gen. Musharraf was given only three years by the Supreme Court to restore democracy, but instead he made drastic changes in the constitution which empowered him to dissolve assemblies and sack prime ministers.

Commonwealth Wants Musharraf

to Step Down as Army Chief

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon reiterated yesterday the grouping’s position that President Musharraf should stand down as army chief by the end of the year. McKinnon arrived in Pakistan yesterday for talks with Musharraf and other government leaders to assess political developments in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections.

Pakistani opposition parties have demanded that US ally Musharraf give up his post of army chief. Some also want to see him prevented from seeking another term in a presidential poll due by Oct. 15. General elections are due by mid-January.

The Commonwealth suspended Pakistan’s membership after Gen. Musharraf mounted a bloodless coup in 1999 but readmitted it in 2004, citing progress in democratic reforms. But a Commonwealth heads of government meeting in 2005 warned Musharraf that holding the posts of president and army chief was “incompatible with the basic principles of democracy.”

The leaders of 53 mostly ex-British Empire nations also said until the two offices were separated, Pakistan’s process of democratization would not be irreversible. They urged Pakistan to resolve the issue by the end of 2007, when Musharraf is constitutionally bound to step down as army chief.

As well as Musharraf, McKinnon met Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

“The secretary-general reiterated the Commonwealth’s position with respect to the president’s retention of two offices,” the group’s secretariat said in a statement. It did not elaborate.

Pakistan’s state news agency said McKinnon was “greatly reassured” by Musharraf’s statement on Tuesday about his decision to relinquish the post of army chief if re-elected. Musharraf stressed his “firm resolve to hold free, fair and transparent elections”, the APP news agency said.

The Commonwealth represents 1.8 billion people and a fifth of global trade but it has no formal decision-making powers.