'Cowards were afraid of Musharraf's victory'

ISLAMABAD, April 16: The former military strongman Gen Pervez Musharraf is all set to challenge the decision of the election tribunal in Supreme Court of Pakistan besides organizing a protest demonstration across the country, including Chitral. Talking to ChitralToday, Aasia Ishaq, a spokeswoman for Gen Musharraf, on Tuesday said the handful of cowards were afraid of Musharraf’s popularity as everybody was sure he was going to clean sweep from the valley. She said a panel of APML lawyers was contemplating upon challenging the decision of Peshawar High Court (PHC) election tribunal verdict in Supreme Court, seeking justice from the top judiciary of the country. “The decision to disqualify Musharraf is actually an insult to the people of Chitral …they [Chitralis] will not remain silent [and] will take to the streets against the decision as Musharraf has willfully been thrown out from the election, fearing his victory from Chitral was a done deal,” she lamented. Musharraf’s nomination papers were rejected from NA-32 Chitral after being earlier disqualified from three other constituencies. An election tribunal in Peshawar comprising Justice Fasiul Mulk, Justice Mrs Irshad Qaiser and Justice Mazhar Alam, after a lengthy debate on the objections raised against acceptance of Musharraf’s nomination papers by the returning officer in Chitral, barred him from contesting general elections. The nomination papers of former military ruler were challenged by Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate for NA-32 (Chitral) and Abdul Latif, Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali of Jamat-e-Islami. However, former secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Hassan Muhammad when contacted told this correspondent that the PHC election tribunal is the last forum and the general could not challenge its decision anywhere else including the Supreme Court of Pakistan. “The general is general forever as he could not take part in the upcoming elections…he has no option to challenge the [election] tribunal verdict whether just or unjust. The time is over and now all the doors are closed on him”, he added.]]>