Pak general barred from polls over bid to oust Bhutto

Peshawar, Sept 08: Pakistani election authorities today barred a former general from standing in next month's parliamentary elections because of his alleged involvement in a 1996 coup plot, officials said.
Major general Zaheerul Islam Abbasi's nomination papers were turned down by election officials last week and his appeal was rejected by a two-judge election tribunal on Sunday, they said.

In 1996 a military court sentenced Abbasi to seven years' imprisonment for an abortive attempt to foment an Islamic revolution in Pakistan.

The tribunal upheld that Abbasi was involved in plotting a coup against then Premier Benazir Bhutto.

Bureau Report