LAHORE: Soon after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and newly elected PM Imran Khan nominated Usman Buzdar as his party’s candidate for Punjab Chief Minister slot, a background check revealed that the South Punjab politician had two cases registered against him, one of which is reportedly under investigation, ARY News reported.
Buzdar, who hails from Dera Ghazi Khan area of South Punjab was nominated in a 1998 murder case in which he paid diyat (blood money) to reach compromise with the victims’ heirs.
The verdict in the case was announced by an anti-terrorism court in Dera Ghazi Khan on January 1, 2000.
The PTI’s nominee for Punjab CM, who once served as nazim was also accused of making 300 bogus appointments during his tenure as nazim during Musharraf era.
PTI spokesman Fawad Chaudhry, however, dismissed the reports that Buzdar is nominated in ghost employees case or was ever convicted in any murder case.
It is pertinent to note here that Sardar Usman Ahmad Khan Buzdar, who won the July 25 polls from PP-286 Dera Ghazi Khan-II constituency, was nominated by Imran Khan himself as candidate for Punjab Chief Minister.
“Sardar Usman is from one of the most underdeveloped areas of the province. Sardar Usman knows how people live in such underdeveloped areas, he is an MNA whose own house is without electricity. His nomination fits our vision of bringing people from such areas forward,” Imran Khan had said in a video message posted on his party’s page.
The party’s toughest opponent in Punjab Assembly, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), on the other hand, has nominated former CM Punjab’s son Hamza Shehbaz Sharif as candidate for the slot.
