KARACHI, Nov 4: General Pervez Musharraf has declared a state of emergency in the country in league with the beneficiaries of the National Reconciliation Ordinance, says former Supreme Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmad.

Unimpressed by Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s dash back to the country shortly after the imposition of emergency, Mr Ahmad said in an interview with Dawn that there was a strong PPP link in what had happened in the country on Saturday.

“I remember Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry telling me when he was suspended following the March 9 presidential reference that the original government plan was to instal Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar as chief justice. Justice Dogar had the dubious distinction of being acting chief election commissioner. He was elevated to the Sindh High Court by a PPP government.”

Hailing from Shikarpur in Sindh, Justice Dogar was elevated to the Sindh High Court on April 10, 1995.

He was elevated to the Supreme Court on April 28, 2000, following the refusal of then Supreme Court chief justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui, as well as six other judges, to take an oath on the provisional constitutional order.

Sources quoted Justice Javed Iqbal as saying on Saturday that the Supreme Court was all set to pronounce a ruling on the president’s qualification to be re-elected on Thursday, but the case dragged on because Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel for Mr Ahmad prolonged his arguments unnecessarily.

Pointing to Mr Ahsan’s political affiliation, the sources said he did not deploy what could have been a devastating argument against the nomination papers of Gen Musharraf and other nominees. Mr Ahsan had been instructed to draw the attention of the court towards the fact that Gen Musharraf’s nomination papers were filed even before the office hours of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

He had been told to insist that the nomination papers filed before or after the office hours of the Election Commission had no legal and constitutional value.

When Mr Ahmad was asked to explain his lawyer’s long-winded arguments and reluctance to place due emphasis on an important legal point, he said: “No comments.”

Mr Ahmad said that just as the government had found out that the eleven-member bench of the Supreme Court was planning to rule against the president, the PPP also feared that the apex court would strike down the controversial amnesty law.

“That is why I insist that Gen Musharraf has acted in league with the beneficiaries of the National Reconciliation Ordinance,” he said.

Mr Ahmad said he had a feeling that Gen Musharraf would get a prompt validation for his proclamation of emergency from the present assemblies.

“He would then team up with the beneficiaries of the National Reconciliation Ordinance in the new set-up and they would triumphantly declare that they have supervised a smooth transition to democracy,” he said.

Mr Ahmad said he was certain that measures carried out under the state of emergency would be forcefully opposed by civil society.