Pakistan PM candidate faces arrest in drugs investigation
22 Jun 2012
A judge in Pakistan has ordered the arrest of Makhdoom Shahabuddin in a drugs import investigation only hours after his nomination as the prime ministerial candidate, triggering reports he may be pulled out of the race.
Raja Parvez Ashraf and Qamar Zaman Kaira, both former ministers in the cabinet of ousted prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani are the party's other candidates, according to Karamat Hussain Niazi, general secretary of the National Assembly who spoke to reporters in Islamabad.
President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party would settle on one candidate, GEO television reported, adding Shahabuddin would be withdrawn after the warrant was issued.
Shahabuddin's arrest was ordered yesterday by a judge of the anti-narcotics court, in a case allegedly involving the illicit trade of ephedrine according to Waseem Qureshi, a special public prosecutor who spoke over phone from Rawalpindi to Bloomberg.
Authorities are investigating whether Shahabuddin authorised an illegal permit to two pharmaceutical companies to import ephedrine during his term as health minister in 2011.
The case also involves, the former premier's son, Ali Musa Gilani.
