Source: AFP

Pakistan hit back Friday at its suspension by the Commonwealth as “unreasonable and unjustified” and ruled that President Pervez Musharraf had been justified in imposing emergency rule.

Reacting to the suspension, the foreign ministry said it would review its relations with the Commonwealth and vowed it would not bend to “unrealistic” outside pressures.

Separately, as Commonwealth leaders met in Uganda, the Supreme Court swept aside challenges to Musharraf’s emergency rule, agreeing he had taken the step for the “welfare of the state and the people.”

It came a day after the court — now stacked with loyalist judges — threw out the last hurdle to his re-election last month, opening the way for him to resign as army chief and become a civilian president.

His spokesman Rashid Qureshi said the military ruler was still waiting for written notice of the ruling before he could hang up his uniform.

Attorney General Malik Muhammed Qayyum said Musharraf would swear himself in as a civilian “next week,” but did not say when.

The Commonwealth said it was suspending Pakistan for a second time because of a “serious violation” of the group’s core values.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called it “a clear and necessary” step but promised Pakistan would be allowed to return as soon as it restored full democracy and the rule of law.

The Pakistani foreign ministry however complained it was “unreasonable and unjustified,” saying the November 3 imposition of emergency rule was needed to avert a “serious internal crisis.”

Progress “will be determined by ground realities and legal requirements in Pakistan rather than unrealistic demands from outside,” it warned.

Pakistan was first suspended from the 53-nation grouping of mainly British former colonies in 1999 when Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup. Its exclusion then lasted five years.

Musharraf declared the emergency citing a growing Islamic militancy and an interfering judiciary.

In dismissing challenges, the Supreme Court virtually repeated Musharraf’s words at the time: that terror attacks, suicide bombings and kidnappings had destabilised Pakistan and the government was “paralysed” in trying to respond by the “judicial activism” of certain senior judges.

“This is the right decision by the Supreme Court,” Qayyum told AFP. “We can now hope the emergency will be lifted at the earliest.”

Under intense international pressure, more than 5,000 political opponents, lawyers and party activists have since been freed from jail and elections set for January 8.

However the emergency is still firmly in place and sacked judges are under guard.

Meanwhile former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted in 1999 by Musharraf, will make a fresh attempt to return from exile in the next four or five days, a party spokesman said.

Sharif was due later Friday to meet King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, where he has been living in exile, to discuss plans for his return in time for general elections fixed for January 8.

He had flown back to Pakistan on September 10 but was swiftly deported to Jeddah by Pakistani authorities just four hours later.

Opposition leaders are split on whether to boycott the January 8 vote and will confer Saturday on a joint strategy.

Former premier Benazir Bhutto, the leader of Pakistan’s largest opposition party, gave her candidates the go-ahead to file nomination papers but warned they may still pull out.

In a slight easing of restrictions, the ARYOne television news channel was back on the air after authorities lifted a ban, but there was no decision on another station, Geo News.

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