ISLAMABAD, Sept 9 The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has urged the Supreme Court to hear afresh the contempt petition against Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf for sending back former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia two years ago.

PML-N spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said in a statement on Wednesday that Gen (retd) Musharraf had violated the apex court's verdict, the Constitution and fundamental rights by sending Mr Sharif back to Saudi Arabia.

Mr Sharif was sent back to Saudi Arabia when he returned to the country on Sept 10, 2007, after an SC bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry overturned a ban on the Sharif brothers to contest elections and hold public offices.

Mr Iqbal urged the apex court to hear afresh the pending contempt petition so that the “characters who had violated its order could be awarded an exemplary punishment”.

He said Mr Sharif was not allowed to stay in the country to block the PML-N from sweeping the 2008 general elections.

He said had the PML-N been provided a fair opportunity for preparations to contest the elections and Mr Sharif was allowed to stay in Pakistan, his party would have emerged as the single largest party in the national and provincial assemblies.

Referring to issues like price hike, unemployment, law and order and corruption, Mr Iqbal said the situation would have been different and the country would have been moving in a right direction, if Mr Sharif had not been sent into exile again.