ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday was allowed to contest the upcoming general elections from NA-53 after appellate tribunal rejected objections against his candidature.
During the proceedings, the election tribunal declared returning officer’s decision as null and void.
Talking to media persons, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that nation will decide the fate of PML-N now, adding that he has never bowed before anti-democratic forces.
PML-N will again come into power, he claimed.
Former prime minister Abbasi has criticised the arrest of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s ticket holder from NA-59 Rawalpindi-III in connection with Punjab Saaf Pani Company corruption case.
Engineer Qamarul Islam, who has served as the chairman of the Saaf Pani Company, is accused of having awarded contracts for 84 water treatment plants at a higher price.
The former premier said that Islam’s arrest was ‘unfortunate.’
“I request the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to release Islam immediately,” Abbasi said, adding that it was regrettable that a person who had never been probed was arrested all of a sudden.
He further remarked that only alleged issues in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz were being highlighted.
He further remarked that only alleged issues in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz were being highlighted.
Discussing the upcoming polls, Abbasi observed that questions were being raised on the transparency of the election.
“Justice should be served, and it should be visible,” he said. “Nawaz has appeared for a hundred hearings till date but like I had earlier said, there is no hope of Nawaz getting justice.”
The arrest of Islam, the PML-N’s candidate from NA-59, was criticised by the party supremo Nawaz Sharif and spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb.
On the other hand, appellate tribunal has cleared Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan from NA-72 and former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) governor Sardar Mehtab Abbasi.
Former Interior Minister Khawaja Asif was also given green signal to participate in the elections from NA-73 Sialkot.
However, PTI Chief Imran Khan has been summoned to record his stance over petition against his candidature in NA-35.
Earlier, a petition PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz’s nomination papers was also dismissed for constituency PP-173 of Punjab Assembly.
The tribunal had also rejected the objections regarding PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s candidature for NA-243. INP
