Barred from polls, Sharif meets Bhutto to discuss boycott

“His nomination papers are rejected because of his convictions,” presiding election official Raja Qamaruzaman said in Lahore, where Sharif filed nomination last week.

Sharif, who returned from seven years of exile on November 25, says the convictions secured against him in the wake of his ouster were politically motivated.

He brushed off his disqualification and vowed to fight on against what he called dictatorship. “Let them reject the nominations… 10 times or even 100 times. I will serve the people with much more vigour and resolve,” he told his supporters.

Sharif was convicted of hijacking and terrorism and sentenced to life in prison in 2000 for trying to turn away an aircraft carrying Musharraf, whom Sharif had just dismissed as army chief, back from an overseas visit in October 1999. The incident precipitated Musharraf’s coup.

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. The constitution bars convicted people from running for parliament.

“Musharraf is responsible for the disqualification of both Nawaz and Shahbaz. He wants to keep them out of the frame. This is the most blatant form of rigging possible,” said Sharif’s spokesman, Nadir Chaudri.

Election officials barred Sharif’s brother, Shahbaz, from running last week citing financial irregularities.

Meanwhile, police stopped US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson from meeting Aitzaz Ahsan, a leading Pakistani opposition figure being held under house arrest.