ISLAMABAD, Dec. 6, Reuter: The Pakistani Supreme Court said on Sunday it would hear a petition by opposition leader Benazir Bhutto challenging General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq’s right to be President, Bhutto’s lawyers said.

‘They said no date was set for the hearing of the petition which also challenges changes made by Zia in the country’s constitution and a law under which political parties must be registered by a government election commission.

But the lawyers said they had {old the court Bhutto might not press other issues if it ensured her Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) could contest future elections.

The PPP is barred from elections because it has refused to submit to the law. Decreed by Zia when he was a military ruler and passed by a Parliament elected in Controlled elections.

The law says parties not subscribing to Pakistan’s Islamic ideology can be denied registration. Critics say PPP’s advocacy of “Islamic Socialism” is contrary to Islamic principles.

Bhutto’s petition says this law violates rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

Zia’s Presidency has been challenged on charges that the Supreme Court validated his declaration of Martial Law after a 1977 military coup on government assurances that he would hold free and fair elections within about eight months, Bhutto says Martial Law became invalid and all Zia’s acts were illegal after he enforced a “provisional Constitutional Order” in 1981 which, she said, nullified the earlier Supreme Court ruling.

Zia toppled Bhutto’s father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in a 1977 military coup and ordered him hanged two years later after a controversial murder conspiracy conviction.

Zia was declared President for a further five-year term in 1984 INS controversial referendum on his Islamic policies. The Opposition movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) alliance said the turnout was not more than five per cent.

Zia ended Martial Law in 1985 after elections which political parties were barred from contesting. He handed over day today affairs of State to a civilian administration headed by Prime Minister ‘Mohammad Khan junior.

Article extracted from this publication >>  December 11, 1987