August 23, 2007	Thursday	Sha’aban 9, 1428

LAHORE, Aug 22: The Pakistan Lawyers Forum (PLF) on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court to restrain President Gen Pervez Musharraf from getting himself re-elected “because he suffers from inherent pre-election disqualification”.

In an application moved through advocate A. K. Dogar, the PLF also prayed the Supreme Court’s Lahore registry to restrain Gen Musharraf from misusing the neutral, impartial and non-partisan office of the president by trying to enter into a ‘deal’ with any political party. The president should also be restrained from acting as “head of the PML-Q” and attending political meetings.

The PLF said the application should be incorporated in civil review petitions it had earlier filed in the court. The forum had filed the review petitions after its petitions challenging the passage of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution were dismissed on June 24, 2005.

It pleaded that Gen Musharraf was not eligible to contest any election because he suffered from inherent pre-election disqualification on the ground that an 11-member SC bench in the case Mian Nawaz Sharif versus President of Pakistan had held that under Article 41 of the Constitution, “the president is the head of the state and represents the unity of the republic, and his position is of a non-partisan person”. The forum said the president should maintain his ‘neutral image’ under the Constitution and keep out of politics.

The PLF alleged that the president had always been partisan and had been acting as head of a party of political turncoats. The common man took the PML as Pervez Musharraf League, it said.

The PLF also prayed the court to restrain Gen Musharraf from pre-election rigging, issuing political statements, hobnobbing with political elements and presiding over meetings of the ruling PML.

It said that Corps Commanders and Principal Staff Officers of the Pakistan Army, who on June 1 had allegedly subverted the Constitution, should be restrained from taking part in political activities.