Pakistan court to rule on Musharraf's fate

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Supreme Court is expected to decide on Friday whether President Pervez Musharraf can run for re-election in a ruling with far-reaching consequences for the nuclear-armed nation.   

The court heard final arguments on opposition petitions that say Musharraf, a key US ally who led a coup eight years ago, is ineligible to contest the presidential election on October 6 while he is still army chief.   

The embattled Musharraf has been at loggerheads with the Supreme Court since his botched attempt in March to remove the country's Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a move that sparked mass protests.   

"The nine judges hearing the petitions are expected to deliver a ruling after the final arguments on Friday," a Supreme Court official said.   

The verdict will be closely watched not only in the volatile Islamic republic of 160 million people but also in Washington, where Musharraf remains vital to the fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.   

Musharraf, 64, has promised to shed his uniform by November 15 if he wins another five-year term in office. But he has not ruled out dissolving parliament or even imposing martial law if he is blocked.   

"The government is prepared for any eventuality," a senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.   

"The government is hoping that the court does not stop the election process. Otherwise it will create a serious crisis in this country," the official said.   

The appeals argue that Musharraf is ineligible to stand in the poll, that his dual role as president and army chief is illegal, and that he should be chosen by a new parliament that is due to be elected by early 2008.   

Musharraf, whose popularity has slumped in the past six months, filed his nomination papers for the elections on Thursday amid tight security to prevent protests by the opposition. Two rivals also registered to run.   

Dozens of opposition supporters were freed from jail overnight after chief justice Chaudhry ordered their release in yet another challenge to Musharraf's authority.   

"The court's decision is a massive embarassment for the government," said one of the freed activists, Javed Hashmi, the acting chief of the party of former premier Nawaz Sharif.   

The court on Friday also ordered Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other top officials to submit explanations about the expulsion of Sharif from Pakistan when he tried to return from seven years in exile on September 10.   

Pakistani authorities bundled Sharif, the man Musharraf toppled in 1999, onto a plane to Saudi Arabia in defiance of an order from Chaudhry that the ex-prime minister had an "inalienable right" to come home.   

Musharraf faces still more difficulties after the opposition All Parties Democratic Movement said late Thursday that its lawmakers had decided to resign from parliament, a move that would deprive the poll of credibility.   

Party leaders would submit their resignations on Tuesday, senior opposition leader and Islamic fundamentalist Maulana Fazlur Rehman said.

The same day, the chief minister of the Islamist-ruled North West Frontier Province would ask the governor to dissolve the provincial assembly, the only one in the country controlled by the opposition, he said.   

The assembly of southwestern Baluchistan would also be at risk of collapse after the resignations, throwing the poll into further jeopardy.   

Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid insisted that the "dissolution of one provincial assembly will have no legal or constitutional effect" on the presidential election.   

Musharraf meanwhile is battling a wave of Islamist violence that was unleashed when government forces stormed the Al-Qaeda-linked Red Mosque in Islamabad in July.   

One Pakistani soldier was killed and 12 more injured early Friday when a roadside bomb hit their convoy near the northwestern border with Afghanistan, the army said.