Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has reportedly decided to get reelected for another five-year term in uniform despite prospects of the Supreme Court conducting a close judicial scrutiny of his plans for reelection by the present assemblies.
Musharraf went to Karachi on Sunday to meet the legislators of his close ally, the Muthahida Quami Movement, and reportedly told them that he was firming up plans to get reelected from the existing assemblies on September 15, the Dawn quoted some of the MQM legislators as saying.
Musharraf in the recent past said he plans to get reelected between September 15 and October 15 in uniform. He asserts that he is constitutionally entitled to hold the dual posts till the end of this year after which he would decide whether to shed the uniform.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q has already endorsed his plans to get reelected.
The party has a working majority in the National Assembly, Sindh and Punjab provincial assemblies and shared power in Balochistan with Muthahida Majlis Amal, while MMA held majority in the NWFP assembly.
Musharraf also reportedly brushed aside threats of judicial challenge posed by the supreme court which was expected to take a up a host of petitions, including that of former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, and other political leaders and lawyers outfits if he went ahead with his election.
MQM legislators also said that Musharraf did not indicate that he was contemplating doffing his much-maligned uniform.
Musharraf also reportedly said that no article or clause of the constitution bars his reelection as president.
"I have absolute legal and constitutional justification for contesting the presidential election," he said while alluding to a relevant judgment of the supreme court, which has come out with a string of judgments against the government after the reinstatement of suspended chief justice Iftikar M Chaudhry on July 20.
The court has already admitted a petition by for President of Muthahida Majlis Amal, challenging Musharraf holding the dual posts of president and army chief.
However hearing in the case has not yet started.
Musharraf's reelection was expected to be challenged on different counts, including as an official taking part in politics while in service, whereas rules barred officials from contesting polls until two years after they retire or quit their jobs.
Musharraf, who took power in military coup in 1999, got reelected by the assemblies and managed to continue in uniform after changing the constitution with the help of MMA in 2003.
MQM leaders said that Musharraf was in an expansive mood and spoke at length on the current political situation in the country, the Lal Masjid operation and the scourge of terrorism and extremism adversely impacting the country's economic strength.
He carefully skirted around the subject of the government's contact with the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples' Party, especially his widely reported meeting with PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto in Abu Dhabi.
He said the present set-up would continue and any change would depend on who emerged victorious from the next general election.