The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Islamabad

Pakistan's Supreme Court postponed on Wednesday a by-election in a constituency where former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had hoped to stand, pending a ruling on a decision by a lower court to bar him from the poll.

A high court in the city of Lahore this week barred Sharif from standing in Thursday's by-election, mainly on the basis of a criminal conviction that Sharif says was politically motivated. "The election has been stayed," Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum told Reuters, adding that the next hearing into the case will be on Monday. Sharif, whose government was toppled by the then army chief President Pervez Musharraf in a 1999 coup, had been expected to return to parliament in the by-election Sharif's party came second in a February election and is the second biggest in an uneasy coalition led by the party of slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and his disqualification increased political tension and uncertainty.

Groups of Sharif supporters took to the streets in several cites on Tuesday, though Pakistani stocks, bruised by political worries in recent weeks, surged more than 8 percent on steps towards stabilization.

Several hundred lawyers in Lahore protested against his disqualification on Wednesday as stocks ended 2.54 percent up.

Sharif's party had refused to appeal against the disqualification, saying it will not deal with judges it sees as compliant to Musharraf, whom the party blames for the Lahore court ruling.

But the government, led by Bhutto's party, lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court earlier on Wednesday, seeking either the suspension of the Lahore court's order or the postponement of the by-election.

"He is qualified to contest the election t Our point is that an election tribunal has the right to hear such challenges, not the high court," government lawyer Raja Abdul Rehman told Reuters earlier.

The Election Commission cleared Sharif this month to contest the by-election.

Since Sharif returned from eight years in exile last November, he has been clear in his intention to drive his old enemy Musharraf from power.

The two-time prime minister, dogged by accusations of corruption during his rule, has won much public support for his uncompromising stand against the unpopular Musharraf, and for his insistence judges Musharraf dismissed last year be reinstated.