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| India-Pakistan |
| Supreme Court okays referendum |
| 2002-04-27 |
| Pakistan's Supreme Court gave military ruler Pervez Musharraf the green light to hold a referendum on extending his presidency for five years. The court, which has already validated Musharraf's 1999 coup, unanimously dismissed several petitions from political and religious opposition parties challenging the referendum as unconstitutional. Tough decision. Somebody's car was gonna explode regardless of which way it went... In an order issued by Chief Justice Riaz Sheikh after more than three hours of deliberation, the court said the referendum was valid and any challenge was "premature". "The grounds of the challenge ... are purely academic, hypothetical and presumptive in nature and are not capable of being determined at this juncture," he said in his judgement. That's 'cause the army's the one with the artillery. Perv's a dictator, y'see... He said the court's ruling on the 1999 coup had granted Musharraf sufficient powers to call the referendum, which is scheduled to take place Tuesday. The gist of that ruling was, "If you don't shoot us and burn our houses down, we the court acknowledge that you're in charge. If you so, somebody else will." Boy, Qazi must be hoppin'... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |