Pakistan court bars Musharraf from running for polls

A court in Pakistan has barred former President Pervez Musharraf from contesting the May 11 polls in a constituency in the northern town of Chitral located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

According to Musharraf’s lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri on Tuesday, “His paper has been rejected by the high court,” because he declared emergency rule while in power in 2007.

“We will file an appeal in the Supreme Court,” Kasuri added.

This is while, Jamal Khan, a returning officer for a constituency in Chitral said on April 7 that “Musharraf’s papers are in order….we cannot disqualify him.”

On April 1, an unnamed election commission official in Kasur district of Punjab Province issued a statement saying that Musharraf “has been disqualified” because of court cases against him.

The former army chief-turned-president faces a string of charges including involvement in the 2007 assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Human Rights Watch has called on the Pakistani government to hold Musharraf accountable for widespread and serious human rights abuses under his rule.

The former president returned home in March after nearly four years of self-exile in London and Dubai, despite threats by pro-Taliban militants to kill him upon his arrival.