Emergency to be lifted after normalcy: AG
Staff Report

ISLAMABAD— Attorney General of Pakistan Malik Abdul Qayyum on Thursday said that President Gen Pervez Musharraf will doff uniform before taking oath for another presidential term in the first week of December.
He expressed these views during a briefing about the internal and external situation of Pakistan to foreign media men at Press Information Department on Thursday. Army Act, he says, has been amended to contain attacks against Pak army and its installations.
The political arrestees will not be treated under Army Act”, he added. “Army Act has been amended after evaluating the prevalent domestic situation. However, no common man will be arrested under the Army Act”, he added. While commenting on the appointments of new judges, he contended that government gave appropriate representation of four provinces in the appointment of new judges. Attorney General said that imposition of emergency is not a new phenomena, as it had been rationalized on several occasion in the history of Pakistan.
Attorney General of Pakistan Justice (R) Malik Abdul Qayyum said emergency will be lifted when the law and order situation especially in Swat will become normal. Imposition of emergency is a temporary measure and it has nothing to do with elections, he said while speaking to PTV. He said those people were taken into custody who violated section 144 and other laws of the land. No new law which will affect the elections is introduced so far, he noted.
Attorney General AG) of Pakistan Malik Qayyum has said hearing of president general Pervez Musharraf eligibility case is likely to start from next Thursday. Attorney General of Pakistan said this while talking to the journalists Thursday in Supreme Court. Any deposed judge if wants to leave residence can leave it, he said adding the deposed judges don’t want to leave their residences as they say “we are still judges”. There is no restriction on any judge in leaving the residence, he remarked. If deposed judge Khalil ur Rehman is facing some trouble he can contact me, I can help him”, he underlined.
About lawyers movement AG said he could not find more than 800 lawyers in the movement. Had 80000 lawyers participated in this movement, a storm would have raged in the country, he added. It will make no difference if the lawyers don’t appear in the courts, he held.
One of the factors which contributed to the imposition of emergency was indulgence of state elements in anti government activities, he said. Emergency had to be proclaimed in unavoidable circumstances, he added. About general Musharraf eligibility case, he said its hearing will start after hearing of constitutional petitions filed against promulgation of emergency.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said that he will step down as army chief before December 1, the country’s attorney general told reporters Thursday. The announcement came as military ruler Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and declared a state of emergency on November 3, faced growing international calls to shed his uniform.
“The president has said he will give up his uniform before December 1,” attorney general Malik Mohammad Qayyum told a news conference. Musharraf and other officials have previously said he will wait for the Supreme Court to rule on the legality of his October 6 re-election as president before quitting the army.
Asked what would happen if the court — stripped of hostile judges under emergency laws — ruled against Musharraf, Qayyum said: “He will decide about it himself. He has already his appointed his successor.” Musharraf named former spy chief Ashfaq Kiyani as the heir apparent to the post of chief of army staff in October. Qayyum said Pakistan’s incoming caretaker government would take an oath on Friday morning after the current parliament dissolves at one minute before midnight.