KARACHI,
Sept 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Former Pakistani Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto said Sunday, September 1, 2002, that she
postponed plans to return to her homeland after election officials
rejected her applications to stand in October's polls.
"I
have postponed my program (to return home) as my nomination papers
have now been rejected," she said in an interview with the
Karachi-based correspondent of Deutsche Welle radio to be aired Sunday
night, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Bhutto
previously hinted she would return to Pakistan soon but had never
fixed a date.
"I
will see where the situation leads (and) I will consult with my
colleagues," she said.
Bhutto
said she was grateful to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif - her old
political rival - for rescinding his approved nomination for the poll
in protest of the first rejection Friday, August 30, of one of her
nominations.
"I
have heard the news that... Nawaz Sharif has taken back his nomination
and I am thankful to him (for this gesture). It will be setback to the
military government," she said.
Earlier
Sunday, Pakistani election authorities rejected two more applications
by the two-time ex-Premier Bhutto to contest the polls, triggering
angry protests by her supporters.
Abdul
Ghani Soomro, a returning officer at the Bhutto family stronghold at
Larkana 1,200 kilometers (720 miles) southeast of Islamabad, said the
nomination for the Larkana seat was rejected on the grounds that
Bhutto had been convicted for absconding from two graft trials this
year.
"She
has been convicted by an accountability court to three years (in jail)
and under the election rules a convict stands disqualified. I regret
that her nomination cannot be accepted," Soomro said.
After
the decision was announced, hundreds of Bhutto supporters, who
gathered outside the electoral commission offices, chanted slogans and
hurled abuse aimed at Pakistan's military leader President Pervez
Musharraf.
Despite
tight security, they pounded the doors in anger and stormed into the
building, beating their chests and shouting "Go, Musharraf, Go.
Our Prime Minister is Benazir Bhutto."
Police
did not intervene, apparently intimidated by the mood and size of the
crowd, witnesses said.
Sunday's
hearing into Bhutto's nomination for candidacy in Pakistan's October
10 elections lasted approximately 40 minutes, during which time the
ex-Premier's counsel cited several legal precedents in favor of the
acceptance of her nomination.
"If
she is disqualified, the voters will stand disenfranchised and they
will not be allowed to choose their own candidate," said counsel
Farooq Naik, adding the disqualification would be appealed.
The
Sindh provincial chief of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Nisar
Khoro said: "This is a criminal conspiracy by the military
regime, because they know she will win and become prime
minister."
Angry
Bhutto supporters also burned tires as anti-government slogans were
chanted. They then converged on Khoro's residence.
Witnesses
said police armed with tear gas arrived at the scene, but took no
action. No arrests were reported.
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Bhutto
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Later,
provincial election commissioner Ahmed Ali Helpoto at the southern
port city of Karachi also declared Bhutto ineligible to contest a seat
reserved for women in the National Assembly.
"Benazir
Bhutto's nomination papers are rejected because she has been
convicted," Halepoto said, rejecting a request by party officials
seeking a 24-hour delay in the hearing because her chief counsel,
Farooq Naik, was in Larkana.
Witnesses
said an emotionally charged crowd burst into the election office
shouting "Benazir is innocent."
In
Larkana Khoro said the PPP protests would continue.
"The
people of Larkana cannot think of elections without Bhutto. We hope
the higher authorities will give justice."
Ordinary
people in Bhutto's traditional stronghold of Larkana were described as
being in a state of shock.
Describing
the mood, Mohammad Bakhshs, 50, caretaker of the Bhutto family's Garhi
Khuda Bakhsh graveyard said: "It seems as if another Bhutto died
today."
"It
is a difficult situation for the Bhutto family. She has a right to
participate in the elections. However Musharraf is a king he can do
whatever he likes."
PPP
Secretary General Raza Rabbani said the rejection of Bhutto's papers
from all seats "exposed the hollowness of the regime's claim that
elections will be held in a free and fair manner."
Rabbani
urged the international human rights bodies to take note of the
"election manipulations resorted to by the regime."
