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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Challenges to Musharraf rejected | Challenges to Musharraf rejected |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Pakistan's reshaped Supreme Court has dismissed the main challenges to Gen Pervez Musharraf being allowed a second term as president. | Pakistan's reshaped Supreme Court has dismissed the main challenges to Gen Pervez Musharraf being allowed a second term as president. |
| He has promised to resign as head of the army after the court validates his victory in October's presidency poll. | He has promised to resign as head of the army after the court validates his victory in October's presidency poll. |
| He sacked a number of independently-minded judges who had been due to consider the case. | He sacked a number of independently-minded judges who had been due to consider the case. |
| The judgements come a day after senior US envoy John Negroponte urged Gen Musharraf to lift emergency rule. | The judgements come a day after senior US envoy John Negroponte urged Gen Musharraf to lift emergency rule. |
| Mr Negroponte also urged him to free opponents ahead of elections due in January. | Mr Negroponte also urged him to free opponents ahead of elections due in January. |
| Gen Musharraf has insisted the emergency, imposed on 3 November, can only be lifted once the security situation improves. | Gen Musharraf has insisted the emergency, imposed on 3 November, can only be lifted once the security situation improves. |
| Lack of confidence | Lack of confidence |
| Attorney General Malik Qayyum said that five petitions against Gen Musharraf's re-election had been dismissed. | Attorney General Malik Qayyum said that five petitions against Gen Musharraf's re-election had been dismissed. |
| A sixth petition was brought by a civil servant, Zahoor Mahdi, who wanted to be considered eligible to stand in October's presidential election. | A sixth petition was brought by a civil servant, Zahoor Mahdi, who wanted to be considered eligible to stand in October's presidential election. |
| That petition will be heard on Thursday, the attorney general says. | That petition will be heard on Thursday, the attorney general says. |
| The legal challenge to Gen Musharraf's re-election is being heard by a new 10-member bench of the Supreme Court. | The legal challenge to Gen Musharraf's re-election is being heard by a new 10-member bench of the Supreme Court. |
| Most judges on the previous bench refused to take an oath after the declaration of emergency rule. | Most judges on the previous bench refused to take an oath after the declaration of emergency rule. |
| A separate six-member bench of judges is considering two petitions challenging the emergency. | A separate six-member bench of judges is considering two petitions challenging the emergency. |
| Gen Musharraf has repeatedly defended his decision to impose emergency rule, saying that if elections were held in the wrong environment, the results could lead to chaos. | |
| He said if that happened, Pakistan's nuclear weapons could become vulnerable. | |
| Gen Musharraf has also criticised former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, despite recent efforts by the two to form an alliance. | |
| He said Ms Bhutto feared the polls, set for January, because she was corrupt and unpopular. | |
| Ms Bhutto, who was released from house arrest on Friday, has said that she will meet other opposition leaders to discuss a boycott of the elections. | |
| The opposition says polls under emergency rule would lack credibility. |