ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: The Election Commission on Saturday accepted nomination papers of Gen Pervez Musharraf and two other contenders for the presidential polls while outside its offices violent clashes between law-enforcement personnel and anti-Musharraf protesters turned the area into a mini-battlefield.

Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Qazi Mohammad Farooq declared as valid the nomination papers of President Pervez Musharraf, his two cover candidates — Mohammedmian Soomro and Chaudhry Ameer Hussein — Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, Makhdoom Amin Fahim and his cover candidate Faryal Talpur. The papers of the other candidates were rejected.

Some of the representatives and counsel of the candidates walked out when violence erupted outside the Election Commission.

Sources told Dawn that representatives of Justice Wajihuddin and Amin Fahim pleaded before the Election Commissioner that the Constitution barred Gen Musharraf from contesting for the office of the president for another term unless he completed two years after taking off his uniform.

They also criticised the Chief Election Commissioner for amending election rules to make disqualification under Article 63 of the Constitution irrelevant for presidential polls and said it proved that the change was person-specific and meant to benefit Gen Musharraf.

Leader of the House in Senate Wasim Sajjad defended President Musharraf and said that parliament had authorised him to hold dual offices of the president and army chief.

The Chief Election Commissioner rejected the objections raised against Gen Musharraf’s eligibility and ruled he could contest the presidential election.

The decision came a day after a nine-member bench of the Supreme Court dismissed on technical grounds petitions against Gen Pervez Musharraf holding two offices, giving a legal boost to the president to contest the election for the second term in uniform.

Opposition leaders and lawyers have announced that they will file a review petition in the Supreme Court and hold protest rallies across the country.

Munir A. Malik, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said the National Action Committee of lawyers had announced a countrywide strike on Monday to protest police action against lawyers, journalists and members of civil society outside the Election Commission.

He also said that a petition against the EC decision would be filed in the Supreme Court on Monday by the lawyers’ presidential candidate, Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed.

Farhatullah Babar, spokesman for the Pakistan People’s Party, said that party’s vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim would challenge the EC decision in the Supreme Court and Faryal Talpur, the cover candidate for Amin Fahim, would move the Sindh High Court against the Election Commission.

Talking to reporters, Professor Khurshid Ahmed, proposer for Justice Wajihuddin, alleged that the Chief Election Commissioner was biased and said that acceptance of Gen Musharraf’s papers would be challenged in the Supreme Court.

“We boycotted the scrutiny process because the CEC was not listening to our objections,” he added.

He said that a farce of elections was being imposed on the people and alleged that the CEC had become part of the pre-poll rigging.

Liaquat Baloch, Naib Amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami, said the MMA was not challenging the EC decision directly, but it would be supporting the lawyers’ candidate.

However, he said, the party was considering filing a review petition against the Supreme Court’s Friday judgment. He said that a final decision would be taken after receiving the detailed judgment. “It’s a long legal battle now. The court’s decision once again revived the doctrine of necessity,” he added.