ISLAMABAD, Oct 30: Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that he had been asked by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz by telephone to arrange a special aircraft which was used to take former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Jeddah on Sept 10.

The claim about the prime minister’s verbal orders was endorsed by chief of protocol for foreign affairs Nazir Ahmed and PIA chairman Zafar A. Khan, and also by the principle secretary to the premier. The instructions were followed by a Sept 9 letter to the chief of protocol to keep the VVIP aircraft ready with double cabin crew, though it carried no information about the destination of the plane.

Right from Sept 6, arrangements were being made to violate the decision of the Supreme Court in the Nawaz Sharif case by none other than the prime minister himself, said Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who is heading a seven-member SC bench hearing a contempt of court petition involving the deportation of Mr Sharif.

In his statement, which was appreciated by the chief justice, the foreign secretary said he had been directed by the prime minister by phone on Sept 6 to arrange with the help of PIA a VVIP aircraft.

As the proceedings were going on inside the courtroom, a large number of PML-N leaders, workers and supporters gathered outside the Supreme Court.

At the outset, the court ordered Wasim Sajjad, the counsel for the prime minister, to read out the statement of the secretary to the foreign office in which he had divulged the identity of the official ordering the aircraft. The statement had been filed on an earlier order of the court to the foreign secretary to tell who had reserved the aircraft which was used to deport Nawaz Sharif to Jeddah from Islamabad.

The court adjourned the proceedings till Nov 8 with an observation that keeping in view the complex nature of allegations involving high-ups, it considered it appropriate to adjourn the matter with instructions that the judgment passed in the Nawaz Sharif case holding that any citizen of Pakistan could not be restrained from entering the country still held the field and, therefore, should be implemented in letter and spirit.

Earlier, Zafar A. Khan told the court that PIA regularly received instructions through the foreign affairs ministry for arranging VVIP flights for presidential visits. He said PIA had not yet received the payment although it had billed the ministry for the Sept 10 flight.

The bench made it clear that it would not be proceeding against any sub-inspector or a lower ranking police officer and ordered Attorney-General Malik Mohammad Qayyum to consult the government who should be summoned for committing contempt of court. The bench then retired for 10 to 15 minutes and when it reassembled, the attorney-general requested for a short adjournment, saying he wanted to get instructions from the highest level due to the seriousness of the matter. He also gave an assurance that remedial measures would be taken in the meanwhile by the government.

“Then we will be proceeding against the PM for violating court orders and the foreign affairs secretary will be coming in the witness box to depose his statement,” the chief justice said, adding that the prime minister could also make his statement before the bench when he would be proceeded against.

The attorney-general defended the premier and said he was not alone and a few other persons might also be called by the court.

Advocate Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, the counsel for Nawaz Sharif, was bitter over the violation of the court order and requested the court to summon the person who had violated the decision.

He said the contempt of court proceedings would go on but, in the meantime, the government should make a statement that Mr Sharif could return to Pakistan any time.

What business the prime minister had to ask the foreign secretary to arrange for the flight?, the counsel asked.

The bench directed senior counsel S. M. Zafar, representing the Punjab government, that the highest functionaries of the provincial government should refrain from issuing statements against Mr Sharif’s plans to return home because the matter was sub judice. If the highest functionaries would not refrain from issuing such statements, there would be no purpose of the court to function, it said.

Wasim Sajjad requested the bench to allow the prime minister to submit his detailed reply to explain his position in the light of statements made in the court.