Pakistan election commissioner has rejected the nomination papers of former Premier Nawaz Shariff and his brother Shahbaz citing pending criminal charges ensue general election slated next month on dated 8 January,2008.
"The nomination papers of Nawaz Sharif are hereby rejected," returning officer Raja Qamaruz Zaman said, after hearing a challenge against Sharif on the grounds that he was convicted of hijacking in 2000.
The case involved Sharif's attempt to stop a plane carrying his then army chief, Pervez Musharraf, from landing in Pakistan in October 1999. Musharraf and the army ousted Sharif as a result of that incident.
Khwaja Tahir Zia, has filed nominations from the same constituency as Nawaz Sharif, has submitted an objection to his candidature on grounds that he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a hijacking case in 2000.
The case related to Sharif’s efforts in 1999 to turn back a plane that was bringing President Pervez Musharraf, then the Army chief, from a foreign trip.Zia also pointed out that an accountability court had sentenced Nawaz to 14 years in jail and barred him from holding public office for 21 years.
In July 2000, he was convicted on a corruption charge. He was sent into exile in Saudi Arabia later that year on condition, the government says, that he stay out of politics for 10 years.
Sharif will meet former premier Benazir Bhutto and other political leaders to boycott the elections in Pakistan.
Nawaz Sharif has said that the convictions against him are politically motivated.
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