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Bhutto's Nomination for Pakistan Election Candidacy Rejected
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Benazir Bhutto
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LARKANA, Pakistan, August 30 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Pakistani election authorities Friday, August 30, 2002, rejected the nomination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for October's polls, triggering outrage from her party and other opposition groups.
Election commission official Akhlaq Hussain Ladak declared her ineligible after scrutinizing her nomination for one of two seats she plans to contest in her home town of Larkana in southern Sindh province, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"She has been convicted by the anti-graft court (of absconding), therefore she is not qualified to contest the elections," Ladak told a courtroom at Ratto Dero near Larkana, about 1,200 kilometers (720 miles) southwest of Islamabad.
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf enacted laws under which people with criminal convictions cannot contest October's polls. However, Bhutto - living in self-exile in London and Dubai since 1998 - can still appeal the nomination decision at an election appellate tribunal.
The Secretary General of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Raza Rabbani, told reporters in Karachi late Friday that despite the rejection of Bhutto's nomination, the party would not boycott the elections.
"We will leave no stone unturned to discourage attempts aimed at Bhutto's ouster from the political scene," he said, adding party supporters in Karachi have been urged to remain calm.
Hundreds of PPP supporters, who gathered outside the court this morning, reacted angrily to the decision, shouting slogans against Musharraf, witnesses said.
"We reject Musharraf, go Musharraf, go. We welcome Benazir, Benazir is our Prime Minister," they chanted.
"I am hurt, people are hurt. Her father was hanged, her brother murdered and now she is not allowed to contest the election," said local farmer Sanaullah Abro.
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Rabbani, General Secretary for Pakistan People Party |
The Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) party of Bhutto's political rival Nawaz Sharif also threw its support behind her.
"The military regime is playing on technical ambiguities," party vice president Ejaz Shafi told AFP. "Her candidature must be reviewed and she should be given her constitutional right to contest elections."
Musharraf, who overthrew Sharif in a bloodless coup in October 1999, says he has called elections to restore democracy in Pakistan.
But many people raised doubts over his intentions - particularly after he made sweeping changes to the constitution, reported BBC’s online news service.
Critics say his new powers are intended to maintain General Musharraf's grip on authority despite elections.
Bhutto's rejection was also condemned by Professor Ghafoor Ahmed, vice president of the Jamaat-i-Islami, a member of a six-party Muslim alliance.
"It is a manifestation of victimization of opposition forces by the army regime," he said.
Bhutto's spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the PPP was "surprised and disappointed" at Friday's decision, describing it as "a serious setback to the democratic process in this country."
"But the people of Sindh will not accept this decision," he said.
Her lawyer Ayaz Soomro said the elections returning officer had made the decision under pressure and slammed Friday's outcome as hypocritical.
"This is a case of double standards. On one hand the nomination paper of convict Nawaz Sharif has been accepted, but on the other hand Benazir Bhutto's nomination has been rejected," Soomro told the judge.
"We will definitely challenge this decision in the election tribunal. Benazir Bhutto is innocent, her conviction was not in good faith and we will bring her ... to sweep the election," he later said.
Sharif was convicted of tax evasion and plane hijacking several months after military leader General Musharraf overthrew and jailed him in a bloodless coup in October 1999.
The deposed Premier and members of his family were banished to Saudi Arabia in December 2000 and the Musharraf regime said his lengthy prison term was waived after he agreed to stay out of Pakistan politics for 10 years.
But on Thursday election officials in Lahore, the capital of the country's largest province of Punjab, granted preliminary approval of nomination papers filed by Sharif, his wife Kulsoom and younger brother Shahbaz.
Musharraf also said Bhutto will be arrested for failing to appear at two corruption trials earlier this year if she returned to Pakistan.
However, Bhutto launched a legal challenge against the law which bars her from running in October's polls.
Bhutto left the country shortly before her conviction in a corruption case in 1998, which was later set aside by the Supreme Court ordering a re-trial.
But twice this year she was convicted of absconding for failing to return to Pakistan to appear at two separate graft trials in May and July.
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