Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on Monday submitted nomination papers to contest the upcoming general elections from a National Assembly constituency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Chitral district.
The papers were submitted by the former president's lawyer and party leaders from NA-1 Chitral to the returning officer in the area, the first constituency of the lower house of parliament.
APML District President Chitral Sultan Wazir told *DawnNewsTV* that Musharraf would soon return to the country and hold a rally in Chitral.
Musharraf had submitted nomination papers from Chitral in the 2013 poll as well. His party, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), had managed to win a seat each in the National Assembly and KP Assembly from Chitral's NA-32 and PK-90 constituencies, despite announcing a boycott of the 2013 general elections.
The leaders of the APML Chitral chapter expressed hope that their leader would win the imminent contest by a large margin.
Earlier today, the chief justice ordered the unblocking of Musharraf's identity card and passport.
Retired Gen Musharraf, who is also facing a high treason case, was allowed last week by the Supreme Court to file nomination papers if he personally appeared before the court in Lahore for a hearing on June 13.
The SC is currently hearing Musharraf's appeal against a 2013 Peshawar High Court (PHC) verdict disqualifying him for promulgating a state of emergency in November 2007.
Following his disqualification, Musharraf's nomination papers for Karachi's NA-250 seat in the polls that year were rejected by a returning officer on the grounds that he had held in abeyance and suspended the Constitution on Nov 3, 2007, detained and removed a number of superior court judges, and publicly insulted then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
The apex court allowed the returning officers to receive the ex-general’s nomination papers for the upcoming elections, though acceptance of the nomination papers would be subject to the outcome of the case.
The former military dictator left the country in 2016 to "seek medical treatment" and hasn't returned since.
