ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — President Pervez Musharraf’s script for a tightly controlled political transition moved ahead on cue Thursday, as his hand-picked Supreme Court dismissed the final legal challenge to Musharraf’s becoming president for another five-year term, and officials said he would resign as army chief within days.
Aides and supporters of Musharraf said they hoped that once he is sworn in as a civilian president, the domestic and foreign criticism against his imposition of emergency rule will recede and the nation’s attention will turn to parliamentary and provincial legislative elections now scheduled for Jan. 8.
“All the issues making the politicians agitate will be resolved,” said Tariq Azim Khan, the deputy information minister. “Gen. Musharraf will take off his uniform and become Mr. President. The emergency definitely will be short-lived. The people should begin preparing for elections, and let the best man win.”
Yet even as the military-led government continued to free thousands of civilian protesters and opposition leaders detained in recent weeks, it intensified a crackdown on press freedoms and issued a decree that declared the permanent legal validity of Musharraf’s emergency measures.
Also Thursday, the 53-nation Commonwealth suspended Pakistan from the organization for failing to end emergency rule, the group said at a meeting in Kampala, Uganda.
The Commonwealth, largely made up of Britain and its former colonies, gave Musharraf a Thursday deadline to lift emergency rule and step down as army chief.
Musharraf has publicly vowed to step down as army chief “the moment” the high court validates his Oct. 6 election by the outgoing parliament and he is formally notified by the national election commission.
Officials said he could shed his uniform and be sworn in as civilian president as early as Saturday.
