The Supreme Court Tuesday restored Shahbaz Sharif as chief minister of Punjab thirty-five days after he lost his government as he was disqualified to be member of the provincial assembly. The moment a five-member bench of the Supreme Court issued a stay order against the Feb. 25 ruling of a three-judge panel of the same court, Shahbaz Sharif assumed the office of the chief minister. This sent a wave of jubilation in the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) whose workers outside the apex court in Islamabad and elsewhere celebrated their victory by distributing sweets. The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, which handed down the brief order, would hold its next hearing in the case in the second week of May as Shahbaz Sharif's lawyer Abid Minto told the court that he would not be available for being abroad. The three-justice bench that had disqualified Shahbaz Sharif and his elder brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Feb. 25 was headed by Justice Musa K. Leghari and included Justices Sheikh Hakim Ali and Sakhi Hussain Bokhari. Sharif brothers' another attorney Khawaja Haris told the Supreme Court that Governor Salman Taseer has summoned a session of the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday for election of the chief minister. He said this election would create legal and constitutional problems, therefore, a stay order should be issued against the Feb. 25 decision, restoring Shahbaz Sharif as chief minister. When the bench comprising Justices Jilani, Sheikh Hakim Ali, Musa K. Leghari, Sabihuddin Ahmed and Nasirul Mulk asked Attorney General Latif Khosa to dilate on the point, he agreed that a complex situation could be created by the election of a new chief minister. Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader and federal minister Nabil Gabool welcomed the court decision and said President Asif Ali Zardari has already assured unconditional support to Shahbaz Sharif. Earlier, summoning of the Punjab Assembly by Governor Salman Taseer on April 1 had landed the PML-N in a tight spot with some of its leaders saying that the move was meant to block Shahbaz Sharif to be the chief minister again.
