August 18, 2007	Saturday	Sha’aban 4, 1428

LAHORE, Aug 17: Attorney-General Malik Muhammad Qayyum said on Friday that accountability cases against the Sharifs were reopened because they had abandoned their part of the deal with the government.

“The government is of the opinion that if they can wriggle out of their commitment it can also do so. I have myself seen the documents wherein they (Sharifs) pledged neither to return to the country for 10 years nor to take part in politics,” Mr Qayyum said.

“A case has to be brought to its logical end. There can only be two options for deciding a case: either dismiss it or accept it,” he said.

The attorney-general said it would be wrong to assume that the NAB (National Accountability Bureau) could not reopen the cases because, he added, the government had never withdrawn the prosecution.

In reply to a question, he said a case could not be said to be withdrawn or dismissed if an accused proceeded abroad. “It has happened in the Benazir case when I was hearing it. She had left the country with my permission,” recalled Malik Qayyum, a former judge.

He said the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of a case only if the question of public importance was raised. A high court could act only if someone filed a petition and stated that a certain procedure or law was not being followed, he added.

APP adds: The attorney general said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif would lose the benefit of remission of his sentence if he violated the exile agreement.

If anyone got his punishment remitted under an agreement with the government and thereafter he went back on it then the punishment would come into force again, he told a TV channel. According to law, he added, a convicted person could not take part in elections.