Haven't quit politics, says Musharraf
Islamabad, June 23 : A day after resigning as the chairman of the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), former President Pervez Musharraf said that he has not quit politics.
Musharraf, in a video message, said he had been planning to contest the upcoming general elections but wanted certain assurances, including that of not being arrested, the removal of lifetime disqualification and his name from the Exit Control List, Dawn online reported on Saturday.
The former military ruler, currently in self-exile in Dubai, sent his resignation to the Election Commission on Friday, days after he failed to return to Pakistan to appear before the Supreme Court in connection with a case related to his lifetime disqualification from electoral politics.
"If Khawaja Asif's lifetime disqualification can be overturned, why not mine." he said. "If Nawaz Sharif has the freedom to move in and outside the country, why can I not have it."
Musharraf said that since those assurances were not given, he knew he could not do anything for his party or for himself and therefore, after consultation with other APML leaders, he said he decided not to return to the country.
The former Army Chief, however, said that he would continue to support the party he founded. He added that his future plan of action would be announced as things unfold and assured his followers that things will take a turn for the better, the daily said
Musharraf also asked his party members to support its new chairman Mohammad Amjad and Mehreen Malik Adam, who has been elevated to the position of secretary general.
Amjad will direct all party affairs and decide the APML's role in the July 25 general elections.
The Supreme Court recently allowed Musharraf to conditionally file his nomination papers for the general elections and assured him that he would not be arrested until his appearance before the court, but he chose not to end his self-imposed exile.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
