Musharraf court says he can be President

CNN:

The Pakistani Supreme Court, packed with judges appointed in recent days by President Pervez Musharraf, dismissed five major petitions against him Monday contesting the validity of his re-election, the nation's attorney general said.

The move brings Musharraf closer to taking the oath of office for a new term as president. He has said that he will step down as military leader before starting a new 5-year term, but he cannot be sworn into office until the parliamentary election results are final.

"There were five petitions, they have all been dismissed. There is only one left and that will be heard on Thursday," Malik Mohammad Qayyum told CNN.

Pro-democracy activists have said the new supreme court's decisions have no validity.

Musharraf originally promised to give up his military uniform in 2004, a vow that helped him win a confidence vote in parliament, but then reneged saying he needed to maintain the post to fight terrorism.

Hours after declaring a state of emergency on Nov. 3, Musharraf dismissed nearly all of Supreme Court judges, along with suspending the constitution, imposing severe media restrictions, and clamping down on opposition protests that followed.

U.S. President George W. Bush and other international leaders have called on him to restore democracy in Pakistan by ending the emergency order before elections, which Musharraf says will take place before Jan. 9.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte said Sunday that he had expressed to Musharraf the United States' displeasure with Pakistan's emergency rule and urged him to lift the order and release all political detainees ahead of elections.

"Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair and credible elections, which require the active participation of political parties, civil society and the media," Negroponte told reporters Sunday after his two-hour meeting with Musharraf on Saturday.

...


While the court ruling may be suspect, it gives Musharraf the excuse he needed to lift the emergency rule he has imposed on Pakistan and get back to the serious business of destroying the Islamist religious bigots that are threatening his country. They are a much more serious threat than the lawyers. I am not aware that any of the protesting lawyers want to impose Shari'a law on the country, but the religious despots do and they are the greater threat to Pakistan and the world.

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