Pervez Musharraf eligible to file nomination for upcoming general election in Pakistan

Pervez Musharraf

Former president of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf who has been disqualified for life and is no longer the citizen of Pakistan can file his nomination papers to contest the country’s upcoming general elections on 25 July.

The hearing and the subsequent ruling by a three-judge bench, which was headed by the chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar also directed the former military dictator to appear before the court on June 13.

As the deadline for filing nomination papers is fast approaching, the court has assured the former president’s counsel that it will be directing the returning officers to accept his papers. He also made it abundantly clear that the acceptance of the papers filed by Musharraf for the 2018 general elections will be conditional to the final verdict on his case.

General Musharraf,74, is currently based in Dubai after he had left Pakistan on medical grounds and is considered a fugitive in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case. Thereafter, Musharraf was disqualified for life and held him ineligible to contest elections in April 2013. The Peshawar high court had rejected his appeal against the disqualification.

His nomination papers from all the constituencies he had applied were also rejected in the same month.

He was also indicted on treason charges for imposing emergency in the country. If convicted, he can face the death penalty or life imprisonment.

The court has assured Musharraf who’s a former army chief and had ruled Pakistan from 1999 to 2008 that he would not be arrested by the authorities when he appears before the Lahore registry. He had sought adequate security to appear before the court.

Muhammad Amjad, General secretary of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) of which Pervez Musharraf is the head, has informed that the former president will be returning to the country after the Eid which is celebrated after the end of holy month of Ramadan. Although some political experts have their doubts on the former president’s return for the hearing.