Bhutto, Sharif will not be allowed to contest elections: Musharraf

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

Islamabad, Oct 22 (UNI) As Pakistani opposition mounts efforts to form a grand alliance against the government after Eid, President General Pervez Musharraf tonight said ex-Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif would not be allowed to contest 2007 parliamentary elections.

''They (Bhutto and Sharif) will not be allowed to contest the 2007 parliamentary elections,'' General Musharraf said during an interview with the private Geo TV tonight.

He said Ms Bhutto faced several cases in Pakistani courts, which could not be decided in absentia while Mr Sharif went into exile for ten years under his own will in 2000.

Mr Sharif went into exile and settled in Saudi Arabia in December 2000 under a deal between the royal Saudi and Pakistani governments for ten years almost a year after he was overthrown in a military coup in October 1999.

However, Gen Musharraf said Ms Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Mr Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N) would be there to contest the election.

Asked where did he himself place in terms of popularity as compared to Ms Bhutto and Mr Sharif and what would be the result if he was fielded against these two leading political personalities, Gen Musharraf said, ''I am sure both of them will lose election.'' UNI XC SK KP0024

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