PML-N announces Senate candidates

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, who is also the PML-N president, on Wednesday okayed the party’s candidates for next month’s Senate elections.
The PML-N leadership has taken care of party workers and old loyalists while finalising the names of Senate candidates. For instance, Dr. Ghaus Niazi, the party candidate from the Punjab who remained loyal to the PML-N after the 1999 military coup and kept the party active in district Mianwali, has been awarded a ticket.
The PML-N sources said that party leaders already holding a government position were not given tickets for the party elections. “That is why Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Chairman Evacuee Trust Board Siddiqul Farooq, who have applied for the party tickets for the Senate elections, are not included in the final list,” the sources said.
Siddiqul Farooq, when contacted by The News, said he was satisfied with the decision of the party leadership. “It is the prerogative of the party president to take the decision,” he said.The candidates from the Punjab include the outgoing senators Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haq (Technocrat), Professor Sajid Mir (Technocrat/Ulema), Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed (General), Mushahidullah Khan (General) and Begum Najma Hameed.
The political secretary to the Prime Minister Dr. Asif Kirmani, Lt General (retd) Abdul Qayyum, Nehal Hashmi, Chaudhry Tanveer, Dr. Ghaus Niazi for general seats and Kiran Dar on women seats are new names for the Senate elections.
Iqbal Zafar Jhagra (General) and Dr. Raheela Magsi (Women) have been given the party tickets from the federal capital.Lieutenant General (retd) Salahuddin Trimzi (General) would be the PML-N candidate from KP while Pir Sabir Shah would be his covering candidate.
Syed Zafar Ali Shah got a party ticket from Sindh while Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasir, Ameer Afzal Khan Mandokhel, and Mir Nematullah Zehri would be candidates from Balochistan while others include Shahbaz Khan Durrani (Technocrat), Ayaz Khan Swati (Covering for Technocrat), Dhanaish Kumar (Minorities), Kalsoom Perveen (Women), Sydaal Khan Nasir (covering on General seat) and Mir Irfan Kurd (covering on General Seat).