September 11, 2007	Tuesday	Sha'aban 28, 1428

LAHORE, Sept 10: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Istiqlal President Air Marshal Asghar Khan has condemned the ‘deporting’ of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia terming it an act of patent contempt of court that is also unconstitutional.

In a press statement released by Tehrik information secretary Hanif Goraya here on Monday, the PTI head said the regime had brought the Supreme Court to disrepute by defying its order of allowing Mr Sharif to return home without embarrassment. He requested the apex court to proceed against all the government officials and leaders who had a role in sending the PML-N leader out of the country against clear instructions of the court.

Mr Khan said returning home and living in the country was a fundamental constitutional right of every Pakistani citizen which could not be denied. No law in the country provided for sending any citizen out of Pakistan against his or her will, he added.

PTI: The Punjab organisation of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf supported the call of the All-Pakistan Democratic Movement for observing Tuesday as a day of protest against Mr Sharif’s ‘deportation’.

A PTI meeting on Monday said the act amounted to bringing the apex court of the country into contempt. The meeting requested the Supreme Court to take a suo motu notice of the contempt and punish those responsible for the defiance.

A resolution said the regime had committed political suicide by deliberately resorting to the contempt of court and violation of the fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution.

The meeting was informed by PTI secretary general Amin Zaki that ‘thousands’ of political workers were taken into custody in a crackdown starting several days ago, which targeted the PML-N activists in particular.

He said the whole province was virtually under a police siege which had blocked all main highways and sealed all roads leading to the Islamabad International Airport to prevent political workers reach there to accord a reception to Mr Nawaz Sharif on Monday.

According to him, the police also barred the PTI workers from reaching the airport and arrested a number of them. The meeting was also informed that the flight of party chairperson Imran Khan, who was in Dubai and had planned to reach the federal capital to join the reception of the former premier, was not allowed to land at the airport. However, the PTI admitted that none of its workers was arrested from Lahore.

MMA: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal deputy secretary-general Liquat Baloch on Monday described as state terrorism the deportation of Nawaz Sharif and the arrest of political workers. In a press statement issued by his party’s Punjab office, he said the decision of deporting the PML-N leader was an act of contempt of court. Besides, he said, it violated the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. He supported the APDM call for protest and said the MMA would take an active part in making it successful.

Meanwhile, the Jamaat-i-Islami has also admitted that its workers were not taken into custody during the crackdown in Lahore or elsewhere in Punjab.

KHAKSAR TEHRIK: Meanwhile, the Khaksar Tehrik workers on Monday staged a rally outside the Lahore Press Club demanding the release of the party chief Hameeduddin Al-Mashriqi who was arrested from Islamabad along with several companions. He was in the federal capital to attend the reception for Mr Nawaz Sharif.

The party said in a press release that it would participate in the APDM protest demonstrations on Tuesday. —Correspondent