Pakistan ex-PM banned in one seat as election bias claims persist

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani election tribunal disqualified outgoing Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi from running in his home constituency, dealing the latest blow to the party of ousted leader Nawaz Sharif.

The surprise barring of Abbasi applies only to the constituency of Murree, and not the separate Islamabad seat in which he is also standing in the July 25 election.

However, with four weeks until the vote he could still face new challenges.

The ruling follows the arrest by an anti-corruption body of another member of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz ( PML-N) after he was named to contest a seat.

In the case of Abbasi, an election commission tribunal ruled that he did not declare an accurate value of his assets in his nomination papers. Abbasi denied the charges and termed the decision illegal, saying he will appeal against the ban.

“I declared an actual value of my property at the rate which my father bought it in 1974. It is an election for the parliament. They have made it a joke, ” he told local TV channels.

Abbasi was named prime minister last year after the Supreme Court disqualified thenpremier Sharif, who had served twice as prime minister before and was ousted both times.

Since his removal, Sharif has been arguing that the Pakistani military establishment, aided by top members of the judiciary, backed a series of decisions which banned him from politics for life. — Reuters