Pakistani lawyers seek delay in ex-PM exile hearing

ISLAMABAD, Aug 22 (Reuters) Pakistan government lawyers asked today for a three-week adjournment of a Supreme Court hearing into a request by exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to come home so he can take part in elections.

Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, another former prime minister in exile, are both hoping to return and take part in elections that beleaguered military ruler Pervez Musharraf has promised will be free and fair.

Musharraf ousted Sharif in a coup in 1999 and the president, who is also army chief, has refused to let him back.

Musharraf is expected to launch a bid for another term as president after September. 15.

Analysts say a Supreme Court decision in favour of Sharif's return would add to the problems the embattled Musharraf faces in getting re-elected.

The important US ally has seen his popularity slump since he tried to dismiss the country's top judge in March and also faces constitutional hurdles to his bid to hold on to power.

Sharif heads an opposition alliance and has vowed to oppose Musharraf's attempt to secure re-election by sitting national and provincial assemblies before they are dissolved for a general election due around the end of the year.

The Supreme Court is due to consider the government lawyers' request for a delay in the hearing on Thursday.

The government side argues that Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz, who is also a politician, agreed to go into exile for 10 years after Nawaz was sentenced to life in prison on various charges following Musharraf's coup.

Sharif denies any deal and says he and his family should be allowed back.

Government lawyers today submitted documents appearing to show Sharif and his brother had signed statements in which they agreed to exile.

''I the undersigned agree to stay out of Pakistan for 10 years,'' said the documents, both of which carried indistinct signatures and were dated December. 2, 2000.

Government lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri said his team needed time to get original copies of the agreement from a ''friendly country''. He did not identify the country but Sharif went to live in Saudi Arabia when he left Pakistan in 2000.

''We need preferably three weeks to procure the original documents,'' Kasuri told reporters.

Shahbaz Sharif tried to come back to Pakistan in 2004 but was sent back to Saudi Arabia shortly after arriving on a flight.

Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistan Muslim League, one of the country's major opposition parties, still faces corruption charges in Pakistan, as does Bhutto, who left nearly a decade ago but has also vowed to return before the general election.

REUTERS AK RK1925