ISLAMABAD, Aug 31: Former prime minister and leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N), Nawaz Sharif, has decided to withdraw his candidature in protest against rejection of Benazir Bhutto’s nomination papers and to express solidarity with the people of Sindh.

“I have decided to withdraw my nomination papers filed and duly accepted for the forthcoming elections,” Nawaz Sharif said in a fax message received by the party secretariat from Saudi Arabia.

In a rare gesture of solidarity with fellow politicians, Nawaz Sharif said: “It is highly regrettable that the nomination papers of Benazir Bhutto who hails from Sindh and is a leader of one of the two mainstream political parties have been rejected.”

The message was read out by PML(N) Chairman Raja Zafarul Haque at a press conference here on Saturday. Raja Zafarul Haque said Shahbaz Sharif and Begum Kulsoom Nawaz would contest the elections. However, he was not sure whether they would return to the country or contest the elections from abroad.

“We wish they return soon and lead the election campaign,” Raja Zafarul Haque said when asked when Shahbaz Sharif or Kulsoom Nawaz were coming back.

“We are trying to save the country from any further split,” Mr Haque said while commenting on reports that it was a government-sponsored move.

Had it been sponsored by the government, Kulsoom Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif too would have withdrawn from the election, he added.

He said there was no legal or constitutional bar on any member of the Sharif family to return to the country. When the Election Commission had cleared them and accepted their nomination papers now the administration could do nothing to prevent them from contesting the election or coming back to Pakistan, he added.

“I am deeply saddened and perturbed to learn that the election authorities in Pakistan, working under the military dictatorship have rejected the nomination papers of Benazir Bhutto for the forthcoming elections,” Nawaz Sharif stated.

He said it was yet another proof of the military regime’s mala fide designs and insincerity towards the revival of democracy in Pakistan and had further strengthened the apprehensions regarding its plans to hijack the October 10 elections.

“It is the indisputable right of the people of Pakistan to elect their leaders and prevailing them from doing so is nothing but a blatant violation of their rights enshrined in the Constitution. If there are any implications or charges against anyone, he or she should be subjected to a fair and impartial trial with a guaranteed right to defence in a court of law, not functioning under the “Provisional Constitutional Order” of a military dictator.

“Our country, in the past, has paid very dearly for the misdoings of military dictators. We have lost half of our country at the hands of military generals who failed to recognize the legitimate rights of the people. Elected representatives and leaders were treated contemptuously, termed traitors, publicly humiliated, resultantly earning dismemberment of Pakistan and deep-rooted inter-provincial dissonance. Every military regime in Pakistan has been responsible for divesting the people of their civil, political, social, economic and other fundamental rights. It is undoubtedly the successive military dictatorships who are responsible for the dilution of the spirit of nationhood amongst Pakistanis.”

Earlier, an official spokesman said that the government would contest the filing of nomination papers of Nawaz Sharif, who is a convict on two counts and had voluntarily proceeded abroad, adds APP.

In response to a question, he dismissed the impression that the government was behind the move regarding the filing of nomination papers.

“The impression being created by vested interest of any government involvement in the electoral process is baseless,” he added.

To a question about rejection of nomination papers of Benazir Bhutto, the spokesman said the Election Commission — an autonomous body — is solely responsible to oversee the entire process and the government has nothing do with it.