Pakistan:Pakistan's supreme court, stacked with judges friendly to President Pervez Musharraf, yesterday threw out a final challenge to his re-election and paved the way for him to quit as army chief.
The long-awaited ruling comes as Gen Musharraf faces the prospect of his country's second suspension from the Commonwealth since he took power in a bloodless 1999 coup, because he continues to resist calls to fully lift emergency rule imposed on November 3rd.
"Dismissed," chief justice Abdul Hamid Dogar said after hearing the petition, the sixth and final challenge to the general's October 6th re-election to be thrown out by the court.
Attorney general Malik Qayyum said he expected Gen Musharraf to be sworn in for a second term "by the weekend or immediately thereafter".
Gen Musharraf repeatedly promised to relinquish his army post and be sworn in as a civilian leader for a second five-year term in what he calls a transition to civilian-led democracy once his re-election had been endorsed by the court.
While critical of his actions, the United States has given leeway to Gen Musharraf, a crucial ally in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, to put things right before a general election on January 8th that the opposition may boycott.
Investors in the Karachi stock market, already taking heart from the US endorsement of Gen Musharraf, welcomed the court ruling. Shares gained 0.25 per cent yesterday on top of 1.5 per cent on Wednesday, leaving the market 2.7 per cent below pre-emergency levels.
Amid fears that the Supreme Court would rule against him on the re-election challenges, Gen Musharraf declared emergency rule nearly three weeks ago, suspended the constitution, sacked the chief justice and purged the court, installing more amenable judges.
Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, speaking in Dublin, said: "It is not enough to move towards free and fair elections unless all the judges who were dismissed or suspended are fully reinstated in their previous capacity. Otherwise we will have a very twisted form of democracy, where the judicial branch will have been made totally subservient to the executive."
British prime minister Gordon Brown said Gen Musharraf had told him he would "do his utmost to lift the state of emergency in time for free and fair elections to be held and to give up his military role and responsibilities as soon as possible".
The government has appealed to the British Commonwealth of 53 nations not to follow through on a threat to suspend Pakistan for failing to meet a deadline yesterday to end emergency rule and reverse other authoritarian steps.
Western governments fear that stifling democracy could play into the hands of Islamist militants. Some Pakistanis say President Bush's support of Gen Musharraf - describing him as a valuable ally, a man of his word and committed to democracy - is part of the problem.
- (Reuters)