Musharraf To Stay For Five Years

The Pakistan Government indicated today that General Pervez Musharraf would remainPresident for a period of five years, media reports said.

"The tenure is well defined for the office of the President. It is veryclear," defence spokesman and Press Secretary to Gen. Musharraf, General RashidQureshi was quoted by the local daily The News as saying.

The "clarification" of the tenure came after Gen. Musharraf'sself-appointment was challenged in the Sindh and Lahore High Courts yesterday, questioningthe constitutional validity of his takeover.

Qureshi's statement clearly indicated that Gen. Musharraf was thinking of completinghis own fresh tenure as President and would not merely complete the remaining term ofousted President Rafiq Tarar, the daily said.

The confusion about Gen. Musharraf's tenure followed the order issued by the militaryruler himself which stated that "the Chief Executive shall hold the office asPresident until his successor enters upon office". The order left the tenure and theduration wide open.

Asked whether President Musharraf would seek a vote of confidence from the newlyelected Parliament after elections in October 2002, Qureshi said "We will cross thatbridge when we get to it."

Qureshi's statement meant that though Gen. Musharraf had promised to hold polls byOctober 2002 as mandated by the Supreme Court, the wording of his order, ''until his nextsuccessor is appointed" leave his options wide open.

The news quoting analysts said the obvious interpretation which the Government wouldgive to Gen. Musharraf's oath as President would be for a five-year term but the matterwould ultimately have to be decided by the higher courts as it is most likely to bechallenged by the Opposition.

It said consitutional experts were not clear how the courts would judge the oath sinceit had been administered by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Irshad HasanKhan, who had also agreed to become acting President, whenever Musharraf is out of thecountry.

The first opportunity for Justice Khan to become acting President would be when Gen.Musharraf visits New Delhi on July 14 for a summit meeting with Prime Minister Atal BehariVajpayee.

Meanwhile, Gen. Musharraf's takeover has been challenged in the two High Courts.

In Karachi, his appointment was challenged by a senior lawyer, Sohail Hammed, whoquestioned the consitutional status of the military ruler as President. The applicationcites the President of Pakistan as respondent. The petition would come up for hearing onJune 28.

A similar petition was filed in the Lahore High Court by the secretary of the PeoplesLawyers Forum, Mian Hanif Tahir. The petitioner prayed the court to declare the act ofassumption of the consitutitonal post of President of Pakistan as without lawfulauthority, void and of no legal effect.

PTI