NYT : Pakistani Court Orders Arrest of Ex-Premier’s Brother

Pakistani Court Orders Arrest of Ex-Premier’s Brother

By SALMAN MASOOD | September 8, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 7 — A court on Friday ordered the arrest of Shahbaz Sharif, the brother of the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, as the two men planned to return to the country from exile on Monday.

Their return was expected to be a catalyst in the campaign to oust the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who is seeking re-election this year.

Opposition leaders denounced the court’s move as politically charged and vowed to give the brothers a rousing welcome upon their expected return at the Islamabad airport.

The government of Nawaz Sharif was toppled by General Musharraf in a bloodless coup in 1999. In 2000, Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, his younger brother and the former chief minister of Punjab, the most populous province, were forced into exile in Saudi Arabia.

Last month, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that both brothers — who are currently in London — were free to return.

Shahbaz Sharif returned to Pakistan in 2004, but was sent back to Saudi Arabia minutes after his arrival.

On Friday, the antiterrorism court in Lahore ordered the arrest of Shahbaz Sharif, who was the chief minister of Punjab at the time of the 1999 coup, on charges of murder.

The court charged Shahbaz Sharif with masterminding the killing of five men by the police in Lahore in 1998. Mr. Sharif denies the charge.

Also on Friday, in Rawalpindi, an anticorruption court, known as the Accountability Court, adjourned a hearing on corruption charges against Nawaz Sharif and his family until Thursday.

The charges date to 2001, but were revived by the government last month.

Syed Zafar Ali Shah, a leader of Nawaz Sharif’s faction of the Pakistan Muslim League party, called the reopening of cases and the arrest order “political victimization.”

“The government is in a state of panic, and that is why it has resorted to such tactics,” Mr. Shah said.