New court throws out Musharraf challenges

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Acting on a technicality, Pakistan's new Supreme Court dismissed the main legal challenges to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's Oct. 6 re-election.

Pakistani Attorney General Malik Qayyum said the cases were thrown out Monday after lawyers for the plaintiffs indicated they didn't have instructions from their clients on how to proceed, Voice of America reported.

However, journalists in the courtroom at the time of the ruling said one of the lawyers was threatened with contempt when he told the judges that his client didn't recognize their authority.

The journalists said the lawyer was given a choice of proceeding with the case and facing contempt charges or informing the court that he couldn't proceed because he didn't have proper instructions from his client, VOA said.

Other lawyers faced a similar choice and dropped their challenges.

Musharraf replaced Pakistan's Supreme Court with a new panel of judges earlier this month after declaring emergency law.