Pakistani judge stands by Sharif's right to return

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry reaffirmed on Tuesday an earlier Supreme Court ruling that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif be allowed to return from exile, despite resistance from the government.

Chaudhry made the observation while adjourning until Nov. 8 a contempt hearing against the government for blocking the former prime minister's attempted comeback last month.

Sharif, whom President General Pervez Musharraf ousted in a bloodless 1999 coup and later sent into exile, was blocked for several hours on his arrival at the international airport at Rawalpindi, the city next door to Islamabad, on Sept.10.

He was put on a flight to Saudi Arabia a few hours later.

"We find it appropriate to adjourn the case until Nov. 8. But we would like to emphasise that the judgment passed in Nawaz Sharif's case is still holding the field and required to be implemented in letter and spirit," Chaudhry said.

Several hundred supporters of Sharif's faction of the Pakistan Muslim League staged a protest outside the court.

A spokesman for Sharif, Ahsan Iqbal, said the party leaders will meet this week to discuss when he can return.

"He (Sharif) is aiming to return in late November," Iqbal said.

The government, according to diplomats, is also believed to be under pressure from Saudi Arabia to allow Sharif to return, particularly after another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, was allowed back from self-imposed exile on Oct. 18.