News
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Nawaz undecided over by-poll participation* Raja Zafarul Haq says party leadership to discuss issue in meeting today
By Iqbal Choudhry
ISLAMABAD: Though the Lahore High Court has cleared the last hurdle in the way of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif’s contesting elections, he is still undecided over whether or not to appear in the by-elections, party officials said on Monday.Senior PML-N leader Raja Zafar-ul-Haq told Daily Times that a final decision over whether or not Nawaz Sharif will contest the by-elections had not yet been taken. “The party has still not made a decision on the issue,” he said.
He, however, added that a meeting would be held in Lahore today (Tuesday) to discuss the issue.
Another party official told Daily Times that if the PML-N chief decided to contest the election, a party parliamentarian would resign from his seat to enable Nawaz to contest the by-elections from that constituency.
When contacted, PML-N Spokesperson Sadiqul Farooq confirmed that no decision had been taken over the issue so far.
Federal Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Babar Awan had earlier said that the Pakistan People’s Party would not field its candidate against Nawaz, if he decided to contest the by-election.
During the by-election from NA-123 Lahore, Nawaz Sharif submitted nomination papers for the seat.
However, later he decided not to contest the election and instead gave the ticket to Pervaiz Malik, the brother of former attorney general Malik Qayyum.
On June 19, the Lahore High Court (LHC) had dismissed petitions seeking disqualification of Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif after the petitioners did not pursue the case.
The petitions maintained that since Nawaz Sharif had been convicted, therefore he should be declared disqualified from contesting elections.
Political experts believe Nawaz could contest the polls from NA-100 after a court declared PML-N’s Mudassar Qayyum ineligible to hold the seat in a fake degree case.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk