Backers demand former PM’s return to Pakistan
September 12, 2007
Sonya Fatah
ISLAMABAD–When former prime minister Nawaz Sharif declared his intention to return to Pakistan, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf had two options: allow the leader to enter the country and stoke the passion of popular opinion, or deport him and come up against the judiciary again.
He chose the latter.
What happens as a result of that decision will play itself out in Pakistan’s courts over the next few days and help the country’s other exiled former leader, Benazir Bhutto, chart her own return journey.
Supporters of the twice-exiled Sharif and of his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, filed a petition in the country’s top court yesterday demanding he be allowed to return home. Three weeks ago, the court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Choudhry, ruled Sharif, 57, had a constitutional right to return to Pakistan, and ordered that no pressure be applied to prevent him from entering the country.
But Pakistan’s military government moved harshly against Sharif on Monday, deporting him within hours of his arrival in Islamabad and arresting almost the entire leadership of his party as they tried to travel to the airport to greet him.
Speculation is rampant over whether the Supreme Court will carry on its activist stance and take the U.S.-backed government of Musharraf to task.
A verdict in Sharif’s favour won’t bring the now-exiled leader back from Saudi Arabia, where he has spent most of the last seven years. Any decision about his return would require the Supreme Court to confront Saudi Arabia, a country that has enjoyed a special relationship with Pakistan.
Chaudhury Aitzaz Ahsan, a lawyer and member of the opposition Pakistani People’s Party, believes the government can he accused and tried for abduction.
If convicted, he says, Musharraf could be jailed for seven years.
The Supreme Court can take the government to task by ruling that it is in contempt of court. That would spark a serious confrontation between the judiciary and Musharraf, who also heads the army.
There is a strong expectation that the court will rule against the government. But there are also signs of cleavage within the judiciary. Many lawyers and retired judges spoke out against the treatment meted out to Sharif.
But Pakistani Attorney General Malik Qayyum said the government followed the Supreme Court’s orders when it allowed Sharif to enter the country. Sharif, he said, left of his own will.
“There will be very serious repercussions if the Supreme Court decided to rule against the government and take Saudi Arabia to task,” said an influential lawyer.
Meanwhile, Bhutto is in London watching the drama unfold in her homeland. The paltry public support demonstrated for Sharif has boosted Bhutto’s recently weakened bid for a power-sharing agreement with Musharraf.
Sharif, who was prime minister from 1990 to 1993 and 1997 to 1999, was convicted of corruption and treason and sentenced to 14 years in jail after his 1999 ouster. Musharraf pardoned him in 2000 under a deal by which Sharif was to be exiled in Saudi Arabia for 10 years.
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