Pak Attorney General urges EC to reconsider Sharifs nominations

Pakistans Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum has urged the Election Commission to reconsider the nomination papers former premier Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif.

Lahore, Dec 8 : Pakistan's Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum has urged the Election Commission to reconsider the nomination papers former premier Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif.

"I personally urge the EC to consider the Sharifs' application and decide the case on merit," he said.

Some government legal experts, asking not to be named, seconded Qayyum's view.

They added that Shahbaz's application had legal grounds to be eligible for contesting the election, while Nawaz's application could be rejected as he had been sentenced in two cases.

"Nawaz may only be eligible to contest the polls if he challenges his sentence in the two cases in the Supreme Court," the Daily Times quoted them, as saying.

The Sharifs' have filed petitions with the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) regarding their disqualification to contest the upcoming general elections on ground of objections by the returning officer in Lahore.

The Sharifs' said that they had appealed to the CEC since he had taken oath under the 1973 Constitution.

"It is strange to have such an application filed before the CEC when tribunals for such appeals exist," ECP secretary Kanwar Dilshad Ahmad told reporters.

However, he added, that the commission would be able to comment on the application in a day.

Returning officer Ashtar Abbas had, on December 1, rejected Shahbaz's nomination papers on the ground that a murder case stood registered against him.

Likewise, another returning officer Raja Khaliquz Zaman, on December 3, had barred Nawaz Sharif from contesting the election citing his conviction in two cases in 2000.

ANI