ISLAMABAD, Nov 22: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the last pending challenge to General Pervez Musharraf’s re-election, but announced that it would hand down a short order on Friday, clearing the final obstacle to his becoming civilian president.

“Dismissed”, announced Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar after conferring with other judges of a 10-member bench hearing a petition filed by a relatively unknown homoeopath, Zahoor Mehdi, against the rejection of his own nomination by the Chief Election Commissioner for the presidential election.

On Monday, the apex court had dismissed all other petitions filed before the proclamation of the state of emergency to challenge Gen Musharraf’s eligibility to contest the presidential election for another term.

The petitions were earlier being heard by an 11-judge bench, but most of its members stood deposed on Nov 3 after they refused to take the oath under the Provisional Constitution Order. The same bench had on Oct 5 declined to stay the presidential election, but directed the Election Commission not to notify the results till it gave its final verdict.“There is no legal impediment to Gen Musharraf (taking oath),” senior counsel Sharifuddin Pirzada told Dawn. But, he said that since the Supreme Court had given a written order restraining the Election Commission from notifying the result of the Oct 6 presidential election, a written order of the court vacating that stay would be needed.

Gen Musharraf won the one-sided presidential polls by a huge majority after most of the opposition parties had boycotted or abstained from the election.

“I thought we would be getting order today,” Attorney-General Malik Mohammad Qayyum said, adding that the only thing Gen Musharraf required to take the oath of presidency for another five-year term was the order of the court.

When asked if the president would be taking oath soon after the court issued the short order, the AG said that it should be preceded by three steps -- the order of the Supreme Court, notification announcing the results of the presidential polls by the Election Commission and a notification by the federal government allowing Musharraf to be sworn in as president.

The earlier main petitions of former Supreme Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmed, who contested the presidential election against Gen Pervez Musharraf, and Advocate A.K. Dogar of the Pakistan Lawyers Forum were dismissed for non-prosecution. A contempt of the court petition of Mr Wajihuddin against the CEC also stood dismissed for non-prosecution.

However, petitions of PPP president Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Jamaat-i-Islami leader Liaquat Baloch and Dr Anwarul Haq were dismissed as withdrawn.

Interestingly, the petition of Dr Mehdi was also dismissed on Oct 29 by the pre-PCO Supreme Court which had described it as being misconceived and a joke with the nation.

When the court resumed its proceedings on Thursday it ignored Dr Mehdi’s request to adjourn the hearing for some time as he had received the notice on Wednesday and, therefore, he was not ready.

The bench asked him to explain his contention and after hearing him for about half an hour unanimously dismissed the appeal.