Bhutto appeals over dismissal

Bhutto appeals over dismissal

ISLAMABAD (AFP): Deposed Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto lodged an appeal yesterday at the Supreme Court against the dissolution of the national assembly and her government.

The 42-page appeal contends that the Nov. 5 proclamation by President Farooq Ahmed Leghari was illegal and unconsitutional.

Bhutto pleaded that new elections called for Feb. 3 would be "contrary to the constitution" because they were the result of an "illegal" presidential order.

Leghari has appointed a caretaker government. But Bhutto said the petition should be heard and decided "well before the date of the elections."

The appeal said the caretaker appointments made so far and other measures taken against her and her detained husband, Asif Ali Zardari, showed the president did not intend to make a "fair appeal" or obtain a "fair verdict" from voters.

Leghari accused the Bhutto government of corruption, nepotism, causing a breakdown of law and order, economic mismanagement, administrative irregularities, violation of human rights and responsibility for thousands of extra-judicial killings.

Bhutto rejected all the accusations in her petition.

The appeal by Bhutto's lawyers calls on the Supreme Court to apply the principles that it applied when it former premier Nawaz Sharif was reinstated in 1990 after being sacked by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan.

Bhutto said the action by Leghari, a former ally of the ousted premier, was unwarranted.

The appeal was submitted to the Supreme Court eight days after the dramatic ousting of Bhutto.

A similar appeal against the dissolution of the 217-member national assembly has already been made by its speaker, Yousuf Raza Gilani, who retains his office until a new assembly is formed.

The Supreme Court should now admit the petitions for hearing and fix a date for proceedings, court sources said.

Bhutto, who moved from her official residence to private accommodation on Tuesday, has expressed the confidence that the court will overturn the presidential order and restore her government.

Recalling that Leghari was elected to the high office as a nominee of her party, Bhutto said in her appeal that a "turning point" came when the president was accused in 1994 of corruption by the opposition.

The opposition accused him of involvement in a "fictitious land deal."

Bhutto said her government did everything to clear Leghari but he "was not pleased nor, unfortunately, could his name be entirely cleared."

Even though she and her husband had "nothing to do with the exposure," the president "became bitter and gradually became hostile and adversarial," the appeal claimed.

Listing measures by the president and the events including the September killing of brother Murtaza in Karachi on September 20, Bhutto said it appeared Leghari had set a "timetable" to remove her government.

The president had adopted "beyond any shadow of doubt the most hostile, biased, pre-determined and vindictive state of mind," the appeal said.