Sharif plays down rejection of papers

Islamabad: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday said he was not perturbed by the rejection of his candidacy and the nomination papers of Shahbaz.

He was speaking to party workers after authorities banned him from standing in next month's general election.

"They can reject our papers, we do not care," he said, saying he came home to struggle for the restoration of people's rights and rule of law.

Sharif was sentenced to life in prison on charges that as prime minister he stopped a plane flying then army chief general Pervez Musharraf and others from landing in Pakistan on October 12, 1999.

The military staged a coup and Musharraf took over as chief executive.

In December 2000 Sharif was banished along with family members after Saudi Arabia royalty mediated an arrangement under which the sentence was remitted by then civilian president Mohammad Rafiq Tarar.

The party of the two mainstream political leaders reacted angrily to the rejection of their nomination papers.

The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) information secretary Ahsan Iqbal said it was evidence of what he called "pre-poll rigging."

He said the party believed that fair and free election was not possible without the restoration of the judiciary to its status before Musharraf imposed emergency rule on November 3 and suspended the constitution.

"After eight years Musharraf is still afraid of Nawaz Sharif and cannot face him in elections. This rejection makes a mockery of democracy. The people will not accept it," Iqbal said.

Last week a meeting of the multi-party All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) chaired by Sharif in Lahore resolved to pursue the boycott option.

But it also decided to make efforts to persuade Pakistan Peoples Party leader Benazir Bhutto and key religious-political leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman to support the move to make a boycott effective.

Bhutto as well as Rehman, head of Jamiat Ulema Islam (JUI) and also secretary of the six-party Mutahidda Majlis Amal (MMA) alliance, have repeatedly vowed they would fully take part in the election.

A split has emerged in the MMA over the issue between JUI and Jamaat e Islami, the other main MMA party headed by Qazi Hussain Ahmad, who is also president of the religious alliance.

The MMA supreme council met in Islamabad on Saturday but failed to reach a consensus on whether or not to boycott the polls.