ISLAMABAD, March 15: Mushtaq Ahmed, a convict in the case relating to an attempt on President Pervez Musharraf’s life in 2003, withdrew his writ petition on Wednesday from the Supreme Court.

His counsel said that a fresh appeal would be filed and claimed that Mushtaq Ahmed would not be hanged till disposal of the appeal. In the petition, Mushtaq Ahmed had questioned his trial by a military court.

Advocates Muhammad Akram and Hashmat Habib, appearing for the petitioner, withdrew the petition when a bench, after going through the petition, observed that the convict could not challenge a high court order by invoking Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. The bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Justice Shakirullah Jan held that an appeal could be filed by invoking the appellate jurisdiction (Article 185-3) of the court. It asked the petitioner to withdraw the petition and file a proper appeal.

The counsel explained to the court the urgency in which the petition had been moved. They said if they had not filed the petition their client would have been hanged on Wednesday.

Later the counsel told reporters that an appeal would be filed within two days under Article 185(3) of the Constitution. They, however, claimed that the hanging of Mushtaq Ahmed had been deferred as they had already approached the apex court.

On November 19, 2004, a military court had sentenced Mushtaq Ahmed to death for being a part of a December 14, 2003 conspiracy to assassinate President Musharraf by blowing up the Jhanda Chichi bridge near Rawalpindi.

He was convicted for inciting six junior officers of the Pakistan Air Force, including Chief Technician Khalid Mehmood, Senior Technician Karam Din, Corporal Technician Nawazish Ali, Junior Tehnicians Niaz Mohammad, Adnan Rasheed and Nasrullah. Karam Din and Nasrullah were jailed for life and the remaining four, were sentenced to death.