Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and several other top officials seeking their explanation on the deportation of former premier Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia in violation of a court order allowing his return.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and several other top officials seeking their explanation on the deportation of former premier Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia in violation of a court order allowing his return.
A four-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikar M Chaudhry asked Aziz, Interior Minister, top police and aviation officials to file their response to the contempt petitions filed by Sharif's nephew Hamza Sharif alleging that the government has deported the PML-N leader despite court orders and sought a judicial order for his return.
Issuing the notices, Justice Chaudhry said the court would ascertain whether Sharif has been sent to Jeddah on his own or deported and whether the exit seal was stamped on his passport. He fixed October 17 as the date for the next hearing before which he wanted the respondents to file their replies.
After deportation, the government has claimed that Sharif was sent back on his own will which was questioned by Hamza Sharif, who alleged his uncle was forcibly deported.
Referring to the Presidential polls in which President Pervez Musharraf is seeking re-election, Chaudhry said "whether it is good or bad, I am happy to see the process of elections taking place in the country".
Sharif was deported to Saudi Arabia hours after he arrived from London on September 10 after seven years in exile.
Though he was armed with a Supreme Court order directing the government not to obstruct his homecoming in anyway, he was deported on the ground that he went on exile on a signed deal with Saudi Arabia under which he and his family would remain in exile in Jeddah for 10 years.
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