Pak govt bars Sharif from participating in electio

After going on an overdrive to scuttle his attempts to end his exile, Pakistan government has barred former Premier Nawaz Sharif from contesting elections saying he has already been convicted and sentenced in a case, but put the corruption cases against him in the cold storage.

The deposed Prime Minister was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of preventing the plane of General Pervez Musharraf from landing in October 1999, Advocate General Mallik Qayyum said.

Therefore, Sharif, the leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), is not eligible to participate in the general elections scheduled to take place towards the end of this year, he was quoted in the local media as saying.

Qayyum's comments came three days after the deportation of Sharif to Jeddah on Monday following his arrival here from London to end his seven-year exile. His return was reduced to a stopover only as within hours he was packed off to Jeddah, where he is expected to remain for another three years amid claims by the government that he had agreed to stay out of the country for a decade.

The government has also put the corruption cases against Sharif in the cold storage as authorities informed an anti-corruption court in Rawalpindi that the cases, which it tried to reopen before Sharif's arrival here, need not be pursued because he was no longer in the country.

In another development, the Supreme Court has not yet given a date for hearing the two petitions filed by Sharif's family questioning his deportation. One of the petitions also seeks his recall from Jeddah.