Islamabad, Sep 29 (IANS) More legal battles and political confrontation are in store, sections of Pakistani media said Saturday, noting that the Supreme Court had handed President Pervez Musharraf only “a technical victory” or “a pyrrhic victory” in allowing him to contest the presidential election while retaining his military uniform.
The editorial reaction a day after the apex court dismissed opposition parties’ petitions was mixed, but laced with serious concern that road to restoration of democracy and civilian rule remained uncertain.
Musharraf “is not yet out of the woods, even though a ‘sense’ of the SC now suggests that a majority of judges don’t want to trigger a confrontation with the executive and military that sets back the transition to greater democracy promised by General Musharraf,” Daily Times reasoned.
“But let us face facts. It has averted a potential period of great turmoil in the country. There was talk about an imminent imposition of martial law in the country which would have been followed by great disorder almost certainly resulting in the postponement of the general election due in three months,” it said.
It further said: “This is a ‘technical’ victory for President Musharraf. It doesn’t really mean that he has won the legal arguments in his favour. We shall know the reasons only when the detailed judgement is made public in due course.”
The drift of media comments was that although the court had given a go-ahead to Musharraf, it would explain only in the detailed judgement why the opposition parties’ petitions were rejected as “not maintainable”.
The court would need to interpret Article 63 (k) of the constitution that debars anyone in the government service from contesting an election to the National Assembly (which conditionality applies to any presidential candidate) unless there is at least a two-year gap between the time he was in the service of Pakistan and his decision to contest a seat in the National Assembly.
The Election Commission too would have to grapple with the constitutional implications while scrutinising nomination papers of the presidential candidates.
“A majority of the judges on the bench took a textual position rather than one based on the ‘spirit’ of the constitution as they had when they restored their chief justice to power three months ago,” Daily Times said, referring to the verdict that reinstated suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.
As the Friday verdict is bound to be challenged, how Chaudhry reconstitutes the bench and whether he shall preside over it would also determine the course of developments in the court, it said.
The verdict had come as a surprise to the opposition and “a major relief” to Musharraf and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid), The News noted, adding, like others in the media, that the opposition had not accepted it.
“…the political uncertainty and air of dissent that has enveloped the country in recent months is not going to dissipate any time soon,” it said, adding with concern: “The verdict may well embolden the president’s camp to take a more aggressive approach toward dealing with the political opposition. The signs are not good.”
The Nation called it “a pyrrhic victory”, adding that there was “no saying how much ground has been lost in constitutional terms. Time would tell whether this was too high a price to pay for a civilian president.”
“It is hoped, in any case,” the paper said in its editorial, “that the President would take off his uniform after his re-election and would assume the benign role that the constitution stipulates for the Head of State. The executive authority should return to the leaders who have the genuine support of the people.”
Observing that the political parties now opposing Musharraf had earlier supported his moves at changing the constitution and the rules of the democratic game, The Post said: “It is imperative that while looking for relief from the judiciary, the political parties get their act together if they want to set Pakistan on the road to constitutional democratic rule.”