LAHORE, Sept 2: Objections to the candidature of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif and provincial secretary-general Khwaja Saad Rafique were turned down at a preliminary stage by the returning officers (ROs) concerned here on Monday.
An appellant in the Supreme Court Assault Case, Shahid Orakzai, had objected to the candidature of these leaders who, he alleged, encouraged and patronized the assault on Supreme Court in November 1997.
Rejecting the objections against Mr Shahbaz and Mr Saad, the RO for NA-119, Mian Murid Hussain, ruled that the application filed by Mr Shahid under Section-8(E) of the Conduct of General Elections Order 2002 was not sustainable. The RO said the papers of both candidates had already been approved when the objections were filed. Moreover, the RO observed, the two candidates had not been convicted in the SC Assault Case. Therefore, any objection based on their alleged involvement in the assault was not relevant, he added.
The RO for NA-121, Shaukat Iqbal, also rejected the objection to candidature of Mr Nawaz for similar reasons. Mr Nawaz has not withdrawn his papers for this constituency as yet despite his announcement that he will not contest the October polls to express solidarity with PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto, who has had her papers rejected for four National Assembly seats — from Larkana, Ratto Dero and Karachi.
It was alleged in the application against Mr Shahbaz that he and Mr Nawaz flew to Islamabad and used a cellular phone to pass instructions to the assailants from the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. It was further claimed that former senator Saifur Rehman and former information minister Mushahid Hussain had mentioned the involvement of Mr Shahbaz in the assault in their testimony.
Khwaja Saad was accused of organizing the assault on SC and making a false statement before the SC about his role in the assault after, according to the applicant, Mr Saad had been identified in the film recorded by the court’s close-circuit camera. The applicant prayed for disqualification of Khwaja Saad who, he said, did not appear before the inquiry team despite being summoned.
In another development, the RO for PP-155, Syed Maruf Ahmad Ali, rejected objections to the candidature of Punjab PPP president Qasim Zia. The RO said the papers of Mr Zia had already been cleared last week.
Mian Jalaluddin in his application alleged that Mr Zia had disclosed his Rs140 million assets as amounting to just Rs10 million. It was claimed in the application that Mr Zia concealed the following of his properties: 211 Kanal of agriculture land in Mauza Ganja Kalan, 91 Kanal in Mauza Dhaka, five Kanal in Mauza Shish Mahal and a bungalow at 16-Sarwar Road in Lahore.