Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif who attempted to end his exile on Monday, ignoring the threat of arrest issued by President Musharraf’s government.
ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif who attempted to end his exile on Monday, ignoring the threat of arrest issued by President Musharraf’s government, was deported to Saudi Arabia hours after he landed in Islamabad.
By authorising the deportation, Musharraf seems to have challenged the authority of the Pakistan Supreme Court, which had ruled on August 23 that the two-time former PM had the right to return to Pakistan.
The country faces the prospect of another phase of hostilities between the President and the judiciary because it is possible that the SC will initiate contempt proceedings against Musharraf by Tuesday.
Khwaja Asif, a senior leader of the Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League, has approached the SC seeking action against the government for violating the bench’s order regarding Sharif’s return.
A special Pakistan International Airlines flight carrying Sharif took off from Islamabad four hours after his homecoming on Monday. Sharif had arrived from London hoping to oppose Musharraf’s plan to have himself re-elected as President for another five-year term. Minutes before being deported, Sharif was informed by an official that he was arrested on corruption charges.
The official told Sharif that he would be taken to Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.
But after being arrested from Islamabad airport’s VIP lounge, Sharif was escorted by armed commandos of the Special Services Group to another PIA plane. Subsequently he was put on a flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Sharif’s forced farewell defies the order of a seven-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
The bench had said that the return of the Sharif, and his brother Shahbaz, should not be obstructed by the government. The larger bench hearing two identical petitions seeking the Sharif brothers’ return, and their participation in the general elections, had declared that both the wishes fell under fundamental rights according to Article 15 of the Constitution.
Government sources apprised of the Supreme Court’s options said that the court could not intervene on Sharif’s behalf because his deal with Saudia Arabia defines the terms of his exile.
In fact, Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, chief of the Saudi Arabian intelligence, told the media in Rawalpindi on September 8 that Sharif should honour his agreement to remain in exile for 10 years.
Analysts said that Sharif’s deportation was motivated, in part, by Musharraf’s fear that his re-emergence in Pakistan could disintegrate the ruling Muslim League (Q). That would jeopardise Musharraf’s re-election plans.
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