PAKISTAN:Pakistan's Supreme Court yesterday postponed a by-election in a constituency where former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had hoped to stand, pending a ruling on a decision by a lower court to bar him from the poll.
A high court in Lahore this week barred Mr Sharif from standing in today's by-election, mainly on the basis of a criminal conviction he says was politically motivated.
Mr Sharif, whose government was toppled by the then army chief, President Pervez Musharraf, in a 1999 coup, had been expected to return to parliament in the by-election. Mr Sharif's party came second in a February election and is the second biggest in an uneasy coalition led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and his disqualification increased political tension and uncertainty.
"From day one, we've been convinced that Mr Sharif is qualified to contest but conspiracies have been hatched against him since 1999 and those conspiracies continue," said Mr Sharif's party spokesman, Siddiqul Farooq.
Mr Sharif's party had refused to appeal against the disqualification, saying it would not deal with judges it sees as compliant with Mr Musharraf, whom the party blames for the Lahore court ruling.
But the government, led by Ms Bhutto's party, lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court earlier yesterday, seeking the suspension of the Lahore court's order or the postponment of the poll.
The Supreme court is due to hold its next hearing into the case on Monday.
Groups of Sharif supporters took to the streets in several cites on Tuesday. Several hundred lawyers in Lahore protested against his disqualification yesterday.
Government lawyer Raja Abdul Rehman said Mr Sharif was qualified to contest the poll after the Election Commission cleared his nomination this month.
Since Mr Sharif returned from eight years in exile last November, he has been clear in his intention to drive his old enemy, Mr Musharraf, from power.
The two-time prime minister, dogged by accusations of corruption during his rule, has won much public support for his uncompromising stand against the unpopular Mr Musharraf, and for his insistence that judges that Mr Musharraf dismissed last year be reinstated.
Despite the support he has got from Ms Bhutto's People's Party over the disqualification, ties between the coalition partners are tense, largely over what Mr Sharif's party sees as foot-dragging over reinstating the judges and moving to get rid of the president.
Mr Sharif pulled his ministers out of cabinet after just six weeks, as Ms Bhuttos widower, Asif Ali Zardari, reneged on a commitment to reinstate the judges.
Mr Sharif's party has maintained support for the government without being part of it but a party spokesman said on Tuesday that their patience could run out.
Mr Sharif has said that Mr Musharraf should be impeached or tried for treason, but Mr Zardari wants to ease him out without confrontation to avoid more upheaval in the nuclear-armed country, which, as a neighbour of Afghanistan, is on the front line of the US-led campaign against terrorism. - ( Reuters)