September 30, 2007	Sunday	Ramazan 17, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: The Election Commission on Saturday rejected 39 nomination papers filed by 38 candidates for the presidential election from across the country.

The rejected papers included 12 submitted in Islamabad by eleven candidates, 11 in Lahore, 13 in Karachi and three in Peshawar.

The rejected nomination papers filed in Islamabad included two of Syed Mohammad Iqtidar, and one each of Latif Butt, Major (retd) Maher Mohammad Ramzan, Latif Butt, Javed Mahmmood Sahi, Syed Altaf Hussain Bukhari, Rao Javed Ali Khan, Khurshid Anwar Qureshi, Zahid Anwar Wahla, Shaukat Hussain and Maulana M. Ayaz.

From Karachi, only two papers filed by Faryal Talpur, the covering candidate of Makhdoom Amin Fahim, were accepted while the 13 other nomination papers were declared invalid.

In Lahore, only a set of nomination papers filed for Gen Pervez Musharraf was declared valid while the eleven filed by Dr Fazlur Rahman, Rana Nek Mohammad, Hafeezur Rahman Rana, Nawab Amber Shahzada, Zahid Iqbal, Chaudhry Mohammad Ashfaq, Muazzam Iqbal Gill, Dr Zahoor Mehdi, Mohammad Shahbaz Khan, Mirza Tahir Beg and M. P. Khan were rejected.

From Peshawar, nomination papers filed by Munir Ahmad Shirazi, an official of the income tax department, Advocate Itebar Khan, a former joint secretary of the ruling PML, and Sardar Mohammad Rafique Shahzada were rejected.