KARACHI, Sept 28: The Supreme Court’s decision terming the petitions challenging President General Pervez Musharraf’s right to re-election as president in uniform as non-maintainable was greeted with disappointment by local leaders of different political parties. Many were of the opinion that the decision was contrary to the spirit of the 1973 constitution and claimed that it had pushed the country back into the political turmoil of the 1960s.

The split decision – six judges against three -- of the bench was viewed as a message for democratic forces in the country to prepare for a long-drawn political struggle instead of fighting a legal battle to get back their “right to rule from the man in uniform.”

Prof Ghafoor Ahmad, deputy chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami and a central leader of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, said that the prestige and stature earned by the judiciary from its judgment of July 20 had been “decimated” by the verdict of Sept 28.He said as a student of law, he understood that if any case was not maintainable in the eyes of the law, it was returned by the registrar without admitting it for hearing. But in the case of the petition, not only had a seven-member bench headed by the chief justice initially heard it, but a larger nine-member bench was constituted.

The JI leader asked that if it was a non-maintainable petition, why the bench had wasted the court’s precious time.

Senior politician Mairaj Mohammad Khan said that the verdict was not only against the spirit of the constitution, but also against the aspirations of the people, which has caused great disappointment to the democratic forces in the country.

“We have a history of resisting judgements against the principles of justice, as in the case of Justice Munir’s decision in the Maulvi Tameezuddin Khan case,” he said, adding that he had no doubt the people would resist this decision.

The president of the Sindh chapter of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, Zain Ansari, said that in no democracy in the civilised world had a man in uniform been allowed to contest the presidential election. “The split verdict makes it clear that there was enough pressure of the government on the bench to get the decision,” he claimed.

Pakistan Workers’ Party senior Vice-President Yusuf Masti Khan said that from the beginning, his party’s stance was clear: the only way to block Gen Musharraf’s re-election as president was not through the legal route but through a political struggle.

Akhtar Hussain, Secretary-General of the PWP, said that one had to wait for the detailed judgment to see what legal remedy was available for upholding the spirit of the constitution.

He said the army’s interference in political affairs could only be checked for good if all political parties resigned from the assemblies and launched a struggle for the rule of law, supremacy of the constitution and social justice.

Pakistan Muslim League-N central Deputy Secretary Information Sardar Rahim said the petition was rejected on technical grounds; as such it was wrong to presume the verdict favoured the government.

He said the legal battle would now begin when, at the time of scrutiny of the nomination papers of Gen Musharraf, the question would be raised whether an army chief was eligible to contest the election of the president.

National People’s Party Information Secretary Zia Abbas said instead of going into the intricacies of the verdict, political parties should concentrate on the coming general elections and getting a candidate elected against Gen Musharraf.