Pak CJ to head bench hearing Sharif's petition

Reinstated Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar M Chaudhry would head a two-judge bench to hear the petitions of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother seeking judicial directive to the government not to obstruct their return home from their ''forced exile'' and permit them to take part in the forthcoming polls.

The petitions of Sharif and his brother Shabaz, filed on August 2, have been listed for hearing on August 9 by Chaudhry and senior judge M Javed Buttar.

It would be interesting to see what view the court takes as the Sharif brothers in their petitions mentioned an order delivered by the same court on a similar appeal in March 2004 that said the constitution bestowed the right to all citizens to move freely and settle wherever they want.

''It is a settled proposition of law that the right to enter in the country cannot be denied but a citizen can be restrained from going out of the country. The petitioner (Sharif) is a citizen of Pakistan and has a constitutional right to enter and remain in the country,'' the 2004 court order, which the Sharifs have attached to their petitions, said.

The brothers also accused the government of ''brazenly violating'' the orders in preventing them from returning.

Nawaz Sharif along with 20 family members were exiled to Jeddah in 2000, which the Musharraf government says was part of a deal it reached with Sharif and the Saudi royal family.

Sharif, who later moved to London, denies making a deal and claims that he was forcefully deported.