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Sharif returning to Pakistan tomorrow

Nirupama Subramanian

Will fly from Medina to Lahore, says Sharif's brother

ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif, the Pakistani Prime Minister deposed by President Pervez Musharraf in a coup eight years ago, will return from exile in Saudi Arabia to Lahore on Sunday, his brother Shahbaz Sharif told ARY One World television on Friday.

Mr. Sharif was meeting Saudi King Abdullah to say farewell on Friday and would meet his wife and his brother to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca before flying from Medina to Lahore, Mr. Shahbaz said.

''We will fly on Sunday on Saudi Airlines directly from Medina to Lahore,'' he told the news channel, speaking from London.

Day of mixed fortunes

On a day of mixed fortunes for President Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan government criticised its banishment by the Commonwealth - for the second time in eight years - as "unreasonable and unjustified," while the Supreme Court gave its stamp of approval for the Emergency and the provisional constitutional order, shifting its former Chief Justice and other sacked judges in the order.

The Supreme Court also vacated a stay on announcing Gen. Musharraf's October 6 presidential election victory, giving a written direction to the Election Commission to notify it.

Attorney-General Malik Qayyum told reporters that Gen. Musharraf, who has promised to stand down as the Army chief before taking the oath of his office for his new term as President, may be sworn in before December 1. It is not clear yet how, or whether Mr. Sharif's return will affect Gen. Musharraf's swearing-in.

Validating the emergency, the Supreme Court seven-judge bench declared that the law and order was so bad that the state had to resort to extraordinary measures, but asked the government to roll back the emergency soon as the situation improved and directed the President, federal government and Election Commission to ensure that the elections are free, fair and transparent.

The Court also gave blanket legal approval to all acts by Gen. Musharraf under the provisional constitutional order. The order said in the absence of Parliament, the President, who is also Army chief, could take measures in the interests of the security and integrity of Pakistan.

The bench reiterated Gen. Musharraf's argument that "the conduct of some members of the judiciary" had affected the government. The order said some judges had taken on "hundreds of suo motu notices on petty issues like prices of vegetables and other items that paralysed the entire executive."

It declared that those judges who had not taken oath under the provisional constitutional order had ceased to hold office, and the cases they were hearing had also lapsed.

Hours before the court order, Pakistan said it "deeply regrets" the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group decision to suspend it from the grouping, complaining that it did not take into account the "objective conditions" prevailing in the country.

"The pace of progress towards normalcy will be determined by ground realities and legal requirements in Pakistan rather then unrealistic demands from outside," said a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

Saying the emergency was "necessary" to "avert a serious internal crisis," the Foreign Ministry said the government was committed to restoring "full democracy." As evidence, it listed the appointment of a "neutral" caretaker government to hold impartial elections, the release of political prisoners, the resumption of broadcasts by a majority of television stations and the "expected" oath-taking of Gen. Musharraf as a civilian President.

It called the CMAG decision "unreasonable and unjustified," adding that Pakistan would also "review its association and further cooperation" with the organisation.

Aside from this diplomatic debacle, Gen. Musharraf seems to have suffered another setback with the Saudi government's second thoughts about detaining Mr. Sharif. His visit last week to the kingdom was reportedly to persuade the Saudi government to hold on to the PML (N) leader, but it apparently did not work.

A senior PML (N) leader said Riyadh was embarrassed by the backlash in Pakistan to its role in the September 10 deportation of Mr. Sharif, and did not want to be seen as taking sides in the Pakistani domestic crisis.

Media reports said the government was making frantic efforts to contain the fall-out of his expected return by asking the Saudis to not let him at least until the deadline for election nominations.

PML (N) Information Secretary told The-Hindu that Mr. Sharif's return would not be under any "conditionalities."

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