LAHORE, Oct 28: Supreme Court Bar Association head Malik Mohammad Qayyum on Saturday appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take judicial notice of President Gen Pervez Musharraf presiding over a ruling PML meeting saying that such an act on the part of the head of the state violated the Constitution and the oath of his office.

“The constitution has stipulated that the president is the symbol of the federation and thus disqualified to take definite political sides. The oath of president’s office also debars him (the president) from taking part in politics and supporting a certain political outfit”, he told a news conference after the SCBA’s annual general meeting.

Malik Qayyum said the president enjoyed no such powers as to allow or disallow anybody to participate in the next elections. It was the job of the superior judiciary to take such decisions because it was a legal issue and fell under its ambit alone, he added. Besides, he said, to accept or reject a leader was the prerogative of the people who were free to take such decisions. Any such decision by the president was unconstitutional, illegal and apolitical, he said.

The SCBA president said Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had every right to return to their country and take part in elections next year. No law, he said, prevented the popular leadership from coming back to their own country.

However, to a question, he said the law might stop the two former prime ministers from holding the office for the third time. In reply to another question, he said if President Musharraf considered that he was popular among the people, he should not be afraid of Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif.

He said if the general tried to prevent the exiled leadership under any legal or administrative excuse, this would amount to conceding political defeat. “Better, he (the president) pave the way for their (Benazir’s and Nawaz Sharif’s) return to test if he and the political opportunists in the PML-Q are more popular among the masses than the two former prime ministers”, he added.