Pakistan ex-leader returns from exile
Published 10:56 pm Sunday, November 25, 2007
LAHORE, Pakistan — Tens of thousands of cheering, chanting supporters showered former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with rose petals as he triumphantly returned from exile Sunday, posing a new challenge not only to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf but also to pro-Western opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Sharif’s return came just 11 weeks after he was deported by Musharraf, the military leader who once overthrew him.
The arrival of one of Musharraf’s harshest critics was a fresh challenge for the president, who has faced intense domestic and international condemnation since he declared a state of emergency on Nov. 3, locking up thousands of opponents, purging the Supreme Court and muzzling the media.
As emergency rule enters its fourth week, his opponents are jockeying for position, seeking an advantage not only against him but possibly against one another as well. Sharif is more religiously conservative and less overtly friendly to the West than either Musharraf or Bhutto, who also prepared to register her candidacy today.
“Obviously, it’s huge,” University of Oregon professor Anita Weiss said of Sharif’s comeback. The author of several books on Pakistan, Weiss said many Pakistanis see in Sharif “a mature, elder” — she paused for emphasis — “male statesman.”
Amid the jubilation Sunday, Sharif’s followers appeared to ignore that he was an unpopular prime minister in 1999, when Musharraf’s coup was widely welcomed. As Pakistan’s leader, he was plagued by accusations of corruption and incompetence.
Sharif planned to register for crucial Jan. 8 elections by today’s deadline. But he also threatened to boycott the vote if Musharraf does not end emergency rule. An opposition boycott could deal a potentially fatal blow to the president, who has claimed Pakistan is heading toward democracy.
“Musharraf has taken this country to the brink of destruction,” Sharif told crowds of supporters and onlookers from the top of a truck carrying him from the airport into his home city of Lahore. “The constitution of Pakistan should be restored, and there should be rule of law.”
