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| 12 May 2004 | Wednesday | 21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425 |
Opposition leaders condemn Shahbaz's 'forced exile'
ISLAMABAD, May 11: Members of different opposition parties have condemned the deportation of Pakistan Muslim League-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia and demanded registration of a hijacking case against the Punjab government.
Talking to Dawn, People's Party Parliamentarians MNA Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan termed the "forced exile" of Mr Sharif a violation of fundamental rights. He said the act of the government was a violation of Article 15 of the Constitution, which granted a right to "remain" in the country to every citizen.
He said the "forcible abduction" was a "criminal offence" and punishable under sections 365 and 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The forcible removal of Mr Sharif, he said, was in violation of the Supreme Court judgment on the issue delivered last week.
Moreover, he said, when a passenger was forcibly taken by air against his will, it could also amount to "hijacking of the plane in the real sense." PPP Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar demanded that a case of hijacking be registered against the Punjab government and all those who were involved in the preparation for the "illegal act."
He said that diversion of an aircraft from its normal route for use in forcible deportation of a citizen was hijacking under the law. The senator urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of the violation of its verdict which stated that no citizen of the country could be sent abroad against his will.
He said the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy would soon meet to discuss the issue and decide its course of action. Senator Prof Khursheed Ahmed of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal condemned the government for arresting a large number of people in different parts of the country.
"The way the people were harassed, tear-gassed and not allowed to enter into a genuine democratic process" exposed the government's tall claims about the restoration of democracy, he said.
He flayed the reported manhandling of newsmen in Lahore and vowed to raise the issue in the Senate. MMA MNA Hafiz Hussain Ahmed asked the government to release the agreement between itself and the Sharif family and tell the nation under which law it had been signed.
He said the MMA believed that all leaders living in exile, including former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain, should come back to the country.
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