Former PM Sharif barred from Pakistan elections: official

Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's former prime minister and chief opponent of President Pervez Musharraf, was ruled ineligible for the country's upcoming parliamentary elections in January, an election official said Monday.

Raja Qamaruz Zaman, a judge acting as the returning officer in the
eastern city of Lahore, upheld objections from other candidates that
Sharif was ineligible because of past criminal convictions.

"His nomination papers are rejected because of his convictions,"
Qamaruz Zaman said from Lahore, where Sharif registered last week to
run in the election.