Pak SC to hear Nawaz Sharif's petition on Aug 9

Islamabad, Aug 7: Pakistan's Supreme Court is likely to hear on Thursday a plea by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif seeking directions to the government to allow them to return to Pakistan for participating in the general election.

The petitions of the Sharif brothers were fixed before a Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Justice M Javed Buttar for August 9 on an application by their legal counsel Fakhruddin G Ebrahim for early hearing. The application was filed through Advocate-on-Record M S Khattak.

Nawaz Sharif in his petition has prayed the court to declare that the Sharif brothers and their family members enjoyed the fundamental right to remain in Pakistan and participate in the general election, Dawn newspaper reported on today.

He also sought a direction against the government that it should not force them to live in exile.

The general election in Pakistan is expected by November this year as the present National Assembly and provincial assemblies complete their term on November 15.

Nawaz Sharif was ousted in a bloodless military coup on October 12, 1999, by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

He was tried for &34;hijacking the plane of Gen Musharraf&34; and remained in detention till December 10, 2000, after which he along with his brother and family members, except nephew Hamza Shahbaz Sharif, were deported to Saudi Arabia under a deal with the royal Saudi government.

UNI