Govt to challenge HC ruling disqualifying Sharif for by-polls By Rezaul H. Laskar

Islamabad, June 25 (PTI) - Pakistan government Tuesday said
it would move the Supreme Court against a High Court order to
bar ex-premier Nawaz Sharif from contesting by-polls as angry
lawmakers of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party staged a
walkout from Parliament.

Law Minister Farooq Naek told the National Assembly,
lower house of Parliament, that the federal government will
file an appeal in the Supreme Court tomorrow against the
Lahore High Court's judgement disqualifying Sharif from
contesting parliamentary by-polls scheduled for June 26.

The announcement came despite P.M.L.-N. spokesman
Siddique-ul-Farooq's statement that Sharif will not file an
appeal in the Supreme Court against the High Court's decision.

"The Lahore High Court is a kangaroo court. The judgement
was written somewhere else and they were used as a
mouthpiece," he said, adding the persons who had challenged
Sharif's candidature were "known establishment touts".

Naek said the High Court could not pass a judgement in
the matter as it was a poll-related issue that could only be
decided by an election tribunal. The apex court will also be
requested to issue a stay order for the by-polls so that
elections cannot be held till the appeal is decided, he said.

The High Court, while ruling on petitions challenging
Sharif's candidature, Monday barred the two-time premier
from contesting the by-polls. The judgement was condemned by
the P.M.L.-N., which is a key ally in the PPP-led government,
charging that it was a decision taken by handpicked judges at
the behest of President Pervez Musharraf.

Naek's comments did not pacify P.M.L.-N. lawmakers, who
walked out of the National Assembly and staged a protest on
the avenue outside the Parliament building. They were joined
by lawyers and P.M.L.-N. workers, who shouted slogans against
Musharraf as well as judges who swore an oath of allegiance to
the President.

Senior P.M.L.-N. leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said he
had told Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani the judges
appointed by Musharraf are "illegal and unconstitutional
judges" who were "playing someone else's game".

"We have repeatedly called for the restoration of judges
who were deposed during the emergency to ensure an independent
judiciary."

In their speeches in the National Assembly, senior
P.M.L.-N. leaders like Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Ahsan Iqbal
lashed out against the "system" for the High Court's judgement
and called on the ruling P.P.P. to clarify its stand on
restoring judges sacked by Musharraf during last year's
emergency.

They said if the current state of affairs continued, the
future of the ruling coalition would be threatened.

The P.M.L.-N. has alleged that the superior judiciary
will continue to hand down judgements like the one barring
Sharif from contesting elections till it is purged of judges
appointed by Musharraf.

Responding to points raised by parliamentarians in the
National Assembly, Naek said the government had opposed the
petitions in the Lahore High Court and the Deputy Attorney
General took the plea that the petitions are not maintainable.

He said it was regrettable that the P.P.P. and the
federal government were being blamed regarding this decision.