Amid speculation that martial law will be declared if it rules against President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday said it attached "no value to such threats." The apex court said that it will give its judgment on legal challenges to the General's re-election within 12 days.
"These threats have no value for us. This is an issue to be decided in accordance with the law and according to the merits," Justice Iqbal, who heads the 11-member bench, said as he resumed hearing on the five petitions challenging Musharraf's candidature while in uniform for the October 6 presidential poll.
Justice Iqbal told the court that the bench will decide on the petitions within 10 to 12 days.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had on Tuesday rejected the bench's recommendation that all 18 judges of the Supreme Court, including the CJ, should decide whether Musharraf was eligible to contest the poll without quitting the post of army chief.
Musharraf swept the presidential election, boycotted by the Opposition due to his decision to contest in uniform, but has not been sworn in for a new five-year term as the Supreme Court had directed that the poll result should not be formally notified till it decided on the petitions.
The possibility of the court striking down Musharraf's candidature has sparked speculation that the General, who ousted Nawaz Sharif government in a bloodless coup in 1999, could impose martial law to cling on to power.
Earlier, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afghan Khan Niazi had said that the imposition of martial law could not be ruled out if the apex court decides Musharraf's re-election is invalid.