LAHORE, Sept 10: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was finally allowed to withdraw his candidature for NA-121 on Tuesday when an attested letter was filed authorizing his counsel to withdraw the papers on his behalf.

Mr Sharif’s counsel, Ashtar Ausaf Ali, appeared before Returning Officer Malik Shaukat Iqbal and presented the authority letter, which had been attested by the Pakistani consul-general in Jeddah. He also presented an attested message from the PML-N leader, who stated that he had decided to withdraw his candidature to express solidarity with PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, whose nomination for National Assembly had been rejected.

The two documents were attested by the Pakistani vice-consul in Jeddah, Ubaidur Rehman Nizamani, who specifically mentioned that he had only verified Mr Sharif’s signatures, not the contents of the documents.

The RO observed while accepting Mr Sharif’s application that by submitting an attested authority letter, the candidate had fulfilled the requirements of Section 16 of the Representation of People’s Act 1976.

Earlier, the RO had denied Mr Sharif’s request for withdrawal from the run for NA-120, saying that the authority letter possessed by the counsel for Mr Sharif had not been attested by the consul-general. — Reporter