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High court may again take up Sharif issue

September 11, 2007
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Legal questions arose Tuesday in Pakistan over the deportation of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif only hours after he returned from exile.

Sharif, ousted in a bloodless military coup in 1999 by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, was sent to Saudi Arabia Monday about four hours after his plane landed in Islamabad, although his return to Pakistan had been cleared by Pakistan’s Supreme Court.

After Monday’s developments, the same court may again confront the Musharraf government to determine who was responsible for the deportation, The New York Times reported.

The government claimed Sharif wasn't eligible to return to Pakistan from his exile for another three years under a deal he accepted in 2000 in exchange for commutation of his jail sentences on various charges.

Pakistan’s Minister of State for Information Tariq Azim Khan said the government arranged a special flight after Sharif chose to go to Saudi Arabia, the Times report said.

"While he was being taken to detention, he was offered, if he wanted, to avail the opportunity to go to Saudi Arabia as per the agreement,” Khan was quoted as saying.

But Amjad Malik, a British lawyer who accompanied Sharif, said, “The whole episode was very unlawful and was a clear contempt of court.” // Copyright 2007 by United Press International

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