Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Exiled former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can return, the Supreme Court said in a decision that clears the way for him to run for parliament and increases political pressure on President Pervez Musharraf.
Lawyers for Sharif, who is in London, appealed to the country's highest appellate bench to allow him back into Pakistan, saying the constitution guarantees him the right to return. The former leader was joined in the legal fight by his exiled brother Shahbaz Sharif, ex-chief minister of Punjab province, who was also in London.
The Sharifs ``have the inalienable right to enter Pakistan at any point in time under Article 15 of the Constitution,'' the court in Islamabad said in the ruling today following hearings by a seven-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. ``Their entry into Pakistan shall not be restrained, hampered or restricted'' by the government, the court said.
Nawaz Sharif was convicted of corruption and treason after he was ousted by Musharraf in a military coup eight years ago and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Musharraf pardoned him in December 2000 under an agreement in which Sharif, 57, went into exile in Saudi Arabia for 10 years. He was prime minister from 1990 to 1993 and 1997 to 1999.
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Lawyers for Sharif, who is in London, appealed to the country's highest appellate bench to allow him back into Pakistan, saying the constitution guarantees him the right to return. The former leader was joined in the legal fight by his exiled brother Shahbaz Sharif, ex-chief minister of Punjab province, who was also in London.
The Sharifs ``have the inalienable right to enter Pakistan at any point in time under Article 15 of the Constitution,'' the court in Islamabad said in the ruling today following hearings by a seven-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. ``Their entry into Pakistan shall not be restrained, hampered or restricted'' by the government, the court said.
Nawaz Sharif was convicted of corruption and treason after he was ousted by Musharraf in a military coup eight years ago and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Musharraf pardoned him in December 2000 under an agreement in which Sharif, 57, went into exile in Saudi Arabia for 10 years. He was prime minister from 1990 to 1993 and 1997 to 1999.
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