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Musharraf promulgates ordinance

ISLAMABAD: In what appeared to be a move preparatory to lifting the emergency rule, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and returned home early on Wednesday, promulgated an ordinance validating the emergency and the provisional constitutional order (PCO).

Gen. Musharraf passed the ordinance after meeting top aides and legal advisers as Pakistan came under pressure from the U.S. and others to roll back the emergency.

The ordinance gives immunity to all actions taken under the emergency rule, and appeared aimed at preventing legal challenges after the emergency is lifted.

It came ahead of the Pakistan leader’s expected resignation as the Army Chief later this week and swearing-in as civilian President after the Supreme Court decides on the last petition challenging his candidacy on Thursday.

The court, which dismissed five petitions in the case on Monday, is also expected to throw out a petition in a separate case challenging imposition of the emergency and the PCO on Thursday.

Hours before the ordinance was issued, a Foreign Office spokesman appealed to the Commonwealth for a “short postponement” of its decision on expulsion of Pakistan, asking it not to take a hasty step.

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