10 April 2004	Saturday	19 Safar 1425

LAHORE, April 9: Interior Minister Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat says Mian Shahbaz Sharif will not dare come back to Pakistan because of the banishment accord, but in case he still decides to fly in, the government will exercise all options available to it.

"He is only trying to test the waters", the minister said of the repeated statements of the exiled leader that he is free to come back to his country in the light of the Supreme Court judgment.

Talking to this correspondent on Friday, the interior minister said the apex court's verdict was being grossly misinterpreted by the PML-N leadership. In fact, he said, the court had said that the former chief minister could come back "subject to the law", a condition which the interior minister said was not being taken into account by opposition leaders.

The minister said "subject to the law" meant that the Sharifs would have to stand by the agreement under which they had left the country for 10 years with the undertaking that they would not take part in politics during this period.

He reminded the former chief minister that then president had given a "conditional pardon" to the Sharifs and if the exiled family contravened the provisions of the accord, the government would be free to exercise its options. However, he did not say what the government would do in case Mian Shahbaz Sharif took a Pakistan-bound flight ignoring all warnings.

The minister rejected assertions that the Sharifs had been forced to leave the country. He said before making such accusations no one should forget how happy the deposed prime minister looked when he was leaving the plane after reaching Jeddah.

He said the former chief minister had been allowed by President Musharraf on humanitarian grounds to leave Saudi Arabia and go to the United States for medical treatment. Similarly, he said, several months back the family of the former chief minister had been allowed to come to Pakistan to enable them to perform marriages of their daughters.

But, instead of taking steps for the marriages, the family of the former chief minister involved itself in political activities. As a result, the minister said, the government had to send them back.

Asked why the government had not produced the much talked about banishment accord before the Supreme Court to substantiate its argument that the Sharifs could not come back before staying abroad for 10 years, Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat said it was for the Sharifs to take such a step.