A Pakistani court on Tuesday imposed a lifetime ban on former military ruler Pervez Musharraf contesting elections, saying he had violated the Constitution twice, in 1999 and 2007, which disqualified him from being a public representative.
“The Peshawar high court dismissed Pervez Musharraf’s appeal against the disqualification of his nomination papers from NA-32 Chitral and placed a lifetime ban on him contesting elections,” a court official said.
A four-member bench heard Mr Musharraf’s petition and said Mr Musharraf could not be allowed to contest elections as he had violated the Constitution twice and confined the judges in their homes along with their children.
The Election Tribunal on April 16 disqualified him from contesting general elections from NA-32 Chitral, the only constituency where the returning officer had accepted his nomination papers.
Meanwhile, officials said on Tuesday that the former military ruler has been declared the main accused in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case. “The challan (chargesheet) is likely to be submitted in the Anti-Terrorism Court on May 3. Pervez Musharraf has been declared the main accused,” an official at the Federal Investigation Agency said. The interim challan prepared during investigation declared Pervez Musharraf “guilty”. The challan claims Gen. Musharraf assembled fake and fabricated stories and held others responsible for the murder of Benazir. “The name of Pervez Musharraf has been put in section three after removing it from section two, which is usually used for declared offenders,” the official said.