Whether former Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf will be allowed to contest elections or forced out of the country is a question currently being raised by many. At present, his future looks uncertain. He is fighting against heavy odds. Election authorities, busy in preparing for the parliamentary elections on May 11, have rejected his nomination papers from three out of the four constituencies he had chosen to contest for a National Assembly seat. Moreover, he is facing sedition charges in the Supreme Court, the highest judicial forum of the country.
While he has been allowed to contest from the mountainous state of Chitral, his applications to seek elections from Karachi, Islamabad, and Kasur, a small but politically sensitive town in the Punjab near Indian border, have been rejected. The reasons given are his military takeovers in October 1999, declaration of emergency in 2007, and putting under house arrest the chief justice of the country and other judges.
Musharraf can always appeal the decisions taken by the returning officers, but simultaneously those opposed to him, may also challenge the approval of his papers from Chitral. A number of jurists think that the biggest challenge for Musharraf will be from the top court where Iftikhar Chaudhury, whom he had suspended as the chief justice, is heading the bench that will hear the treason case against him.
Reports in the media say that a number of friendly countries that perhaps had been instrumental in ensuring his return to the country from four years of self-exile, are now contemplating how to provide him a safe exit. They fear for his life and may see the noose around him tighten. Pakistanis, for the first time in 65 years, are experiencing new trends in the elections. The contestants have faced humiliating questions from election officers scrutinizing their papers.
Also while former Premier Nawaz Sharif, his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, former Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali, former Home Minister Aftab Sherpao have been cleared for the contest, Chaudhry Nisar Ali, a right-hand man of the PML(N) chief, was shocked to see his election papers rejected.
Also, former Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf’s papers were rejected. Both Nisar and Ashraf are from Rawalpindi, a garrison town 15 miles away from the city of Islamabad. They were disqualified for being involved in corrupt practices and for not declaring their assets correctly. However, since there is still time for appeals and adjudications, they may get a favorable judgment till the 17th of this month.
Yet another interesting aspect of the upcoming elections is whether some 100 former parliamentarians will be allowed to contest polls despite not getting verified their educational degrees from the Higher Education Commission, the regulatory authority for universities in Pakistan. Of the 213 such cases submitted for verification, 113 have been cleared.
Two of them were declared unfit for elections for possessing fake degrees and another 100 failed to submit their degrees, which makes their fate uncertain. The Election Commission can bar them from seeking elections in future for not meeting the requirements of law.
