Lawyers for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif filed a petition in the Supreme Court yesterday challenging his deportation to Saudi Arabia setting up another confrontation between the judiciary and the government. Sharif's lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court to start proceedings against the government for contempt in relation to the expulsion.
Last month, the court ruled that Sharif had an "inalienable right" to return home and that authorities should not obstruct him.
"Mr Nawaz Sharif was abducted and we are going to proceed against those who were involved in this crime," said Khawaja Mohammad Asif, a senior official in Sharif's party, after filing a petition on Sharif's behalf.
Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema denied any wrongdoing, but said the government would reply to the petition if the court accepts it.
In two towns in eastern Pakistan, several hundred people protested the expulsion.
More than 200 members of Sharif's party and other opposition groups blocked traffic on a road in Lahore, chanting slogans including, "America has a dog in uniform," a reference to President Pervez Musharraf.
Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azim said the government obeyed the Supreme Court ruling to let Sharif enter the country, but that the former premier chose to go back into exile to avoid facing trial.
"It was a choice given to him that either he goes to a detention centre and be detained and tried, or he goes and completes his 10-year (exile) agreement that he has signed with the Saudi government," said Azim.
"No hindrance or obstacle was placed upon his entry into Pakistan."
New York-based Human Rights Watch said Sharif must be allowed to return home.
"General Musharraf has brazenly flouted international law, violated Pakistan's constitution and defied a direct ruling of Pakistan's Supreme Court," said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher for the rights group.
Analysts say Sharif's treatment is not expected to spark big protests - his party failed to draw huge crowds to welcome him home on Monday - but the fall-out in the courts could be Musharraf's biggest problem.
"I don't think there will be large-scale protests but now the question is more of legal and moral propriety," said political analyst Nasim Zehra.
"These are the issues which are now very critical and they will decide the direction of Pakistani politics. These are the challenges faced by General Musharraf."
PHOTO CAPTION
Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif speaks on a phone on a Pakistani aircraft on his return to Islamabad from London, September 10, 2007. (Reuters)