I’m contesting to raise objections against Musharraf: Wajihuddin

Islamabad—Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed may be no competition for Pervez Musharraf, but the Pakistan president may have met his match in the Delhi-born former judge who is contesting the presidential election and says candidly that he is not in the race to win.
“I am not in the race to win the presidency but to raise objections against Musharraf’s candidature,” said the 69-year-old Ahmed, who is contesting to make a point and perhaps dent Musharraf’s winning margin as the military dictator runs for a second term.
“If the presidential elections are held under adult franchise system, I am sure (President Pervez) Musharraf would be the loser,” Ahmed, former chief justice of the Sindh High Court, told IANS.
Lawyers in the country, who led a people’s movement against Musharraf that spilled over to the streets of Pakistan and resulted in the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, have put up Ahmed to stand for the country’s top post. This is despite the fact that they have no support in parliament, with 84 opposition members of the National Assembly and two of the ruling PML-Q submitting their resignations Tuesday.
Ahmed’s name was proposed and seconded by senators (members of the upper house) from the Jamaat-e-Islami.
Known for his integrity, Ahmed was amongst the six Supreme Court judges who declined to take a new oath under the military order a couple of months after Musharraf took over, preferring to forgo his pension and other retirement benefits.
Ahmed and Musharraf have several things in common. Like the president, Ahmed was born in Delhi - but five years after Musharraf. Both their families migrated to Karachi after partition and both are Urdu speaking. But they are poles apart in their views.
“In a democracy there is no place for dictatorship... Musharraf is a dictator and has no legal, constitutional or moral authority to rule the country,” Ahmed said firmly. “I think politicians who provide their shoulders to dictators are also not doing any good service to the nation and country,” added Ahmed, whose father, Wahiduddin Ahmed, a lawyer by profession, was president of the Muslim League’s Delhi chapter when the subcontinent was waging its freedom struggle against British rule.
A graduate of Karachi’s prestigious S.M. Law College, he said his first law teacher was his father, who was also a member of the five-judge bench in united India, president of Sindh High Court Bar Association and chief justice of the West Pakistan High Court.
Wajihuddin, who now finds himself at the centre of a frenzied political storm, spends most of his time in his Karachi home - where he moved after resigning from the Supreme Court - with his friends and family.
The nominated candidate of lawyer community for the slot of Presidentship Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin on Wednesday said that the Presidential candidates should be provided an opportunity for addressing the Nationl Assembly or debate should be held among them.
President Bar Asmatullah Khan, Secretary General Sajid Ilyas Bbhati, Former Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council Ali Ahmed Kurd, President Supreme Court Bar Association Munir A. Malik also addressed on the occasion while Former Head ISI Gen. (Retd) Hamid Gul his daughter Uzma Gul Renowned legal expert of Al-jihad trust Habib Wahab-ul-Khair, incumbent and former office bearers of High Court Bar and bars of different district of NWFP were present.
Justice (Retd) Wajihuddin made it clear we have to face enormous difficulties during the ongoing struggle but no one can stop this caravan. “We have lodged our first complaint before Chief Election Commission”. “CEC cannot make amendment in the constitution without will of the President”. “Amendment had been carried out in the constitution under darkness of the night without taking Quorum into confidence”, he added.—Agencies