RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Qamar-ul-Islam Raja’s son kicked off his father’s election campaign on Wednesday, a local media house reported.
The 12-year-old announced that he would be running his father’s electoral campaign for the upcoming polls after Islam was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with Punjab Saaf Pani Company corruption case.
Islam, who is PML-N’s ticket holder from NA-59 Rawalpindi-III and is contesting against former interior minister Chaudhry Nisar, is accused of having awarded contracts for 84 water treatment plants at a higher price.
Addressing constituents, the 12-year-old said, “I have been asked by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz to start our election campaign.”
“They have asked me to focus on the campaign despite hurdles,” he added.
Expressing hope that his father will win, he said, “NA-59 is the stronghold of PML-N.”
“According to my father and myself, electoral candidates are held between party candidates and independent candidates have no value,” he upheld.
Islam’s arrest came a day after the PML-N fielded him against disgruntled PML-N leader Nisar in the NA-59 constituency.
Responding to a question about Islam’s arrest, former premier Nawaz Sharif said in London that he was upset when he learned of the arrest.
Following the arrests made by NAB, the former interior minister said that this could make the July 25 general election controversial.
Further, Islam’s daughter, Uswa Islam, said that her father was an honest man, alleging that the purpose of Islam’s arrest was to ‘sabotage his election campaign’ and affect the popularity of the party.