Pakistan lawyers appeal deportation of former premier Nawaz Sharif

Описание: (11 Sep 2007)
1. Wide of exterior of Pakistan Supreme Court
2. Member of UK House of Lords (the upper house of the UK Parliament), Lord Nazir Ahmed (left) and exiled former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's nephew, Hamza Shahbaz (right) walking up to Supreme Court to file petition over Sharif's deportation
3. Lord Ahmed and Shahbaz entering court
4. Police lined up behind riot shields
5. Pakistan's Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum surrounded by media
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Malik Mohammed Qayyum, Pakistan's Attorney General:
"The question here is whether he has gone on his own or whether he was forced to do that, that is the issue. I'll get back to you after one or two hours."
7. Qayyum leaving Supreme Court
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hamza Shahbaz, Nephew of Nawaz Sharif:
"We have filed two petitions in Supreme Court. One is contempt and the other is to instruct the authorities to take Mian Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan."
9. People waving posters of Sharif
10. Wide of Shahbaz with Sharif supporters on steps of Supreme Court
11. Lord Ahmed sitting down at news briefing
12. Cutaway of cameras
13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Lord Nazir Ahmed, Mediator for Nawaz Sharif:
"You cannot have free, fair and open elections and democracy when you allow one of the major players to be abducted and thrown out of the country in the way that it was done."
14. Wide of news conference
STORYLINE:
Lawyers for former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging his deportation to Saudi Arabia, setting up another confrontation between the judiciary and Pakistan's military ruler as he battles to hold onto power.
Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf sent Sharif, the premier he ousted in a 1999 coup, back into exile on Monday after the opposition leader landed on a flight from London.
Sharif, who had vowed to return home to campaign against Musharraf, was also charged with corruption during his four-hour stay in the country.
Sharif's lawyers on Monday petitioned the Supreme Court to start proceedings against the government for contempt in relation to the deportation. Last month, the court ruled that Sharif had an "inalienable right" to return home and that authorities should not obstruct him.
"The question here is whether he has gone on his own or whether he was forced to do that, that is the issue," said Malik Mohammed Qayyum, Pakistan's Attorney General.
"We have filed two petitions in Supreme Court. One is contempt and the other is to instruct the authorities to take Mian Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan," Sharif's nephew, Hamza
Sharif, told reporters on the steps of the Supreme Court after the petition was filed.
In two towns in eastern Pakistan, several hundred people gathered to protest the deportation, witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of violence.
The Supreme Court has emerged as a check on Musharraf's dominance since his failed attempt to fire the country's top judge earlier this year that sparked a nationwide protest movement.
It is already hearing petitions challenging Musharraf's holding of the post of army chief and president simultaneously and his eligibility to contest upcoming presidential elections. Judges are also pressing the government to provide information about the fate of hundreds of people allegedly held by Pakistan's shadowy intelligence agencies on accusations of
terrorism and anti-government activities.
A senior member of the Pakistan Bar Council, said lawyers across the country were boycotting court proceedings to protest Sharif's deportation.

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