Former prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the government's move to deport him on Monday.

 

The petition said that Sharif was forcibly deported to Saudi Arabia against his will and that was in clear violation of the court's earlier verdict.

 

A total of 14 people including President, Prime Minister, Interior Minister, chief of Federal Investigation and Punjab provincial police chief were made respondents.

 

The petition prayed to the court to initiate contempt proceedings against the respondents and other persons who were found to be involved in the execution of the contemptuous order.

 

The petition requested the court to direct the federation to secure the return of Sharif, the petitioner, to Pakistan.

 

It also asked the court to issue an interim order on the petition. The court has not yet fixed date for the hearing of the petition.

 

Sharif boarded a flight in London on Sunday night and arrived at the Islamabad International Airport on Monday morning. About four and a half hours later, he was deported to Saudi Arabia.

 

Sharif, twice elected as prime minister of Pakistan, served two non-consecutive terms. 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 for ten years.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2007)