LAHORE, Pakistan - The candidacy of former prime minister Nawaz SharifÂ’s brother was rejected on Saturday because of pending criminal charges against him, Pakistan election authorities said. Shahbaz Sharif, president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and former chief minister of Punjab province, said he would challenge the rejection in court.The government presiding officer said Shahbaz SharifÂ’s bid for candidacy had been turned down after
| Other candidates objected that he was unable to run for office, citing pending charges of murder and default on a bank loan. |
| Other candidates can bump a guy from seeking office? Interesting idea. Can I bump the Hildebeast if I declare for president on the Rantburg platform? |
Shahbaz with his brother and their industrialist family was sent into exile in 2000, one year after General Pervez Musharraf ousted then-premier Nawaz Sharif from power in a bloodless coup. The Sharif family returned to Pakistan early this month after seven years in exile.
Government sources said Shahbaz faces criminal charges in an anti-terrorism court for ordering the killing of five people during his 1997-99 tenure as chief minister in Punjab province. According to prosecutors, police in 1998 killed five students from an Islamic school, or madrassa, on the orders of Shahbaz, who suspected them to be involved in acts of terrorism.