Exiled former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could be
arrested on his return, Pakistan's Attorney General Malik Muhammad
Qayyum said on Friday.
Qayyum told reporters that Sharif's return was in violation of
the undertaking to remain out of Pakistan for a period of 10 years,
the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency
reported.
Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz
Sharif smiles during an interview with Reuters in London, August
23, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Asked if Nawaz Sharif and his family would be taken into custody
at the airport on arrival, Qayyum said the government was examining
all legal aspects of cases against them and it had not yet taken a
decision about when and where to arrest them.
"If Nawaz Sharif abides by the undertaking and remains out of
Pakistan until the expiry of the 10-year period in 2010 then the
remissions will continue," Qayyum was quoted as saying by APP.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Sharif could
return to the country and take part in the forthcoming
parliamentary elections.
Shortly after the Supreme Court issued the ruling, Sharif held a
press conference in London on Thursday, announcing that he would
soon come back to Pakistan and run for prime minister.
Ousted Pakistani prime minister Nawaz
Sharif waves as he leaves an anti-terrorist court in Karachi in
this Nov. 26, 1999 file photo. Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled on
Aug. 23, 2007 that Sharif can return home after seven years in
exile in a decision he hailed as a victory against dictatorship.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
President General Pervez Musharraf confirmed on Thursday that
there was a dialogue going on with other political parties. "It is
the need of time that there is political stability, political
reconciliation and national consensus on issues confronting
Pakistan," Musharraf said on Pakistan Television on Thursday.
Musharraf said earlier this month that former prime ministers
Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif should not return home until after
the forthcoming general elections in the country, according to
local media reports.
Sharif served two nonconsecutive terms as Prime Minister of
Pakistan. He is also the leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N), which is one of the major opposition parties in the
country.
He was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2000 on
charges of hijacking and terrorism after General Pervez Musharraf
staged a bloodless coup in the country. The Pakistani government
agreed to commute his sentence from life in prison to exile in
Saudi Arabia. His family moved with him.
(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2007)
