ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lost his appeal against the rejection of his nomination for next month's parliamentary elections, an official said Tuesday, eliminating a key opposition leader from the crucial vote.
The Election Commission rejected Sharif's appeal Monday, commission spokesman Kanwar Dilshad said. Dilshad declined to give details, confirming only a report in the Urdu-language Jang daily Tuesday that Sharif was out of the elections.
Sharif, who has been campaigning for his Pakistan Muslim League-N party, has been demanding that President Pervez Musharraf restore Supreme Court judges he sacked during a 42-day state of emergency that he lifted over the weekend.
Sharif's party initially called for a boycott of the vote but decided against it after failing to muster support from other opposition groups for a united action.
The party described the appeal's rejection as a politically motivated decision.
"This also shows that they are still afraid of his popularity and cannot face him," said party spokesman Ahsan Iqbal. "This is also shows that there is no level playing field in these elections."
Other candidates objected to Sharif's nomination, citing charges against him relating to the 1999 coup by Musharraf that ousted Sharif's government and his alleged involvement in a corruption case.
The chief election commissioner also rejected a separate appeal by Sharif's brother, Shahbaz Sharif, against rejection of his nomination for the Jan. 8 balloting.
Since his ouster, Nawaz Sharif has lived in exile in Saudi Arabia and Britain. Like Benazir Bhutto, another two-time former prime minister, he has returned home to be involved in the elections.
Addressing thousands of supporters during an election campaign stop in Hyderabad on Monday, Bhutto sharply criticized Musharraf's rule as a "dark era of dictatorship." She warned that a rigged vote could push the country into "anarchy."
"If the militancy spreads and if, God forbid, the country disintegrates, it would become another Afghanistan," Bhutto said.
Musharraf said curbing militancy was the chief reason he imposed a state of emergency on Nov. 3, though he used it to crack down on dissent and purge the judiciary in his favor.
Musharraf has promised that the elections will be free and transparent, and has said allegations of rigging were an attempt by the opposition to create an excuse in case they fare poorly at the ballot box.
Also Monday, a bomber killed nine Pakistani soldiers as they strolled back to barracks after a game of soccer, the army said, the latest in a string of suicide blasts spreading fear ahead of crucial elections.
The suicide bomber struck near an army base in Kohat, about 80 miles west of Islamabad. Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, an army spokesman, said nine troops were killed and four others wounded.
It was the sixth suicide bombing in the past two weeks. At least 32 people have died -- 20 soldiers and police, and 12 civilians. One of the attacks was carried out by a woman, a first in Pakistan.
No one has claimed responsibility, but officials blame militants linked to the Taliban and al Qaeda who have expanded their influence in areas near the Afghan border.
Police, meanwhile, were still searching for a British suspect in an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic jetliners who escaped from police custody over the weekend.
A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media, said two officers have been arrested for negligence and were being probed for possible links with Rauf's two uncles, who also have been taken into custody for questioning.
Britain has been seeking Rauf's extradition, both to question him as a "key person" in the airplane plot and as a suspect in the 2002 killing of his uncle. He has denied involvement in both cases.
Rauf, who is of Pakistani origin, was arrested here in August 2006 on a tip from British investigators. Pakistan described him as a key suspect in a purported plot to blow up airplanes flying from Britain to the United States, prompting a major security alert at airports worldwide and increased restrictions on carry-on items.
He was charged with possessing chemicals that could be used in making explosives and with carrying forged travel documents. Rauf denied involvement in the plot and prosecutors later withdrew the case against him, though he remained in jail awaiting a decision on a British extradition request.
Britain asked Pakistan to hand him over in connection with a separate 2002 murder inquiry. The two countries do not have an extradition treaty.
