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The Pakistan Supreme Court provided a big relief for General Pervez Musharraf on Friday by dismissing legal challenges to his bid for a new five-year term.
''These petitions are held to be non-maintainable,'' presiding Judge Rana Bhagwandas told the court, drawing howls of protests from lawyers in the gallery, Associate Press reported.
The 6-3 decision in favor of the military leader allows him to contest the October 6 election while retaining his position as army chief and removes the main obstacle to his staying in office.
The court's verdict brings to an end weeks of suspense over Musharraf contesting in uniform. The General had filed his nomination for on Thursday.
Musharraf is pitted against two opposition contenders - Amin Fahim of Pakistan People's Party and former Supreme Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmed.
Nawaz Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and its partners in the All Parties Democratic Alliance have threatened to resign from the National Assembly on Saturday in protest against Musharraf's re-election plans. They are to meet later to discuss their strategy.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also issued notices earlier on Friday to the Government on the deportation of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on September 13.
Notices were issued by a four member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhry to the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, Chief Minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and others.
The order comes on a petition filed by Sharif's party PML-N. The respondents have been asked to submit their replies by October 17.
On September 10, Sharif had returned to Pakistan but he was detained at the airport by the authorities and forcibly sent back in exile to Saudi Arabia.
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