• Musharraf to visit Saudi Arabia today

• Govt sets polls on Jan 8

• Imran on hunger strike

Islamabad, November 19:

A Supreme Court hand-picked by President Gen Pervez Musharraf swiftly dismissed legal challenges to his continued rule today, opening the way for him to serve another five-year term — this time solely as a civilian president.

The opposition has denounced the new court, saying any decisions by a tribunal stripped

of independent voices had no credibility.

Musharraf purged the court on November 3 when he declared emergency rule, days before the tribunal was expected to rule on his eligibility to serve as president.

Today’s court ruling could hasten Musharraf’s decision to take off his army uniform. The general has said he would quit as armed forces commander by the end of the month, assuming he was given the legal go-ahead by the court to remain as president.

Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar dismissed three opposition petitions challenging Musharraf’s victory in a disputed presidential election last month, saying two had been “withdrawn” because opposition lawyers were not present in court.

The third was withdrawn by a lawyer for the party of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who suggested the court was illegitimate.

“We asked for (the case) to be postponed because we said there is no constitution,” she told reporters in Karachi after a meeting with the US ambassador Anne Patterson today. Patterson travelled to Bhutto’s stronghold in Karachi for talks at her residence.

She said she had no plans to revive power-sharing negotiations with Musharraf. The court said it would rule on Thursday on another petition from a man whose candidacy for the October 6 presidential election was rejected by the election commission. Only then can it authorize the election commission to announce Musharraf the winner of the vote.

With pressure mounting to get the country on a path to democracy, the government today set January 8 as the date for parliamentary elections.

A report from Riyadh said Musharraf will visit Saudi Arabia tomorrow for talks with King Abdullah, the official SPA news agency reported today.

A report from Islamabad said Pakistani cricket hero Imran Khan began an indefinite hunger strike today in the prison where he was sent last week, his spokesman said, adding Khan wanted a restoration of the constitution and reinstatement of judges sacked when Musharraf imposed the emergency.