Pakistan: Crowds welcome ex-PM Sharif back from exile

Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif returned today from exile to an ecstatic welcome from thousands of his supporters.

He said he planned to register his candidacy ahead of the deadline for Pakistan’s key January elections.

Mr Sharif immediately stepped up the pressure on US-backed military ruler Pervez Musharraf to end emergency rule.

The arrival in Lahore yesterday of one of Gen. 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 November 3, locking up thousands of opponents, purging the Supreme Court and muzzling the media.

Mr Sharif, who was ousted by Gen. Musharraf in a 1999 coup, threatened to boycott the January 8 vote if Gen. Musharraf does not end emergency rule.

An opposition boycott could deal a severe blow to the president, who has claimed Pakistan is heading towards democracy.

“Musharraf has taken this country to the brink of destruction,” Mr Sharif told crowds of supporters and onlookers from the top of a truck carrying him from the airport into his home city of Lahore.

“When the constitution, fundamental rights are suspended, when people live difficult lives, when judges who make decisions according to the constitution are ousted, will elections in such a situation not be a fraud?”

“Should not such elections be boycotted?” Mr Sharif asked, prompting chants of “boycott, boycott!”

He arrived from Saudi Arabia, where he has spent most of his eight years in exile.

Gen. Musharraf swiftly booted Mr Sharif back to the kingdom when he flew into Pakistan in September.

However, the Pakistani leader appears to have lost the support of the Saudi royal family, who provided a special flight to carry Mr Sharif and a host of his relatives home.

The Saudis had warned Gen. Musharraf not to interfere with Mr Sharif’s return, said a diplomat from a Muslim nation who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Mr Sharif had to fight his way through wildly cheering supporters outside the airport terminal. He looked composed as he insisted that his return was “not the result of any deal” with Gen. Musharraf.

A car carrying Mr Sharif left the airport in a snail-paced procession towards a shrine in the centre of the city, surrounded by supporters waving the green flags of his party and chanting “Musharraf go!”

Police had deployed some 5,000 officers to prevent chaos at the airport and protect Mr Sharif from the fate of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose homecoming was wrecked by a suicide bombing that killed about 150 people.

Mr Sharif completed his visit to the shrine without incident, and just after daybreak today his convoy drove off to his family home outside Lahore.

Mr Sharif’s party has said he and his brother will file their papers at noon, just before the deadline for nominations for the January 8 vote.

Ms Bhutto filed her nomination papers yesterday, but both former premiers say a broad opposition coalition could still decide to boycott if Gen Musharraf does not take steps to ensure the election is fair.

Equally tricky for Gen. Musharraf would be an alliance between Mr Sharif and Ms Bhutto.

Washington had been coaxing Ms Bhutto towards an alliance with the embattled dictator until the emergency threw Pakistani politics into confusion.

Ms Bhutto welcomed Mr Sharif’s surprise return and did not rule out an election alliance with her former political foe.

Gen Musharraf is moving quickly to ease some of the restrictions he imposed under the emergency and to belatedly make good on a pledge to end military rule.

The Defence Ministry was likely to issue official notification today that Gen. Musharraf is retiring from the armed services, according to Pakistani newspaper reports.

He is then expected to step down as army chief within days and take a new oath as a civilian head of state.

Most of the thousands of opponents, human rights activists and lawyers detained since November 3 have been released.

However, Gen. Musharraf has so far resisted strong pressure from the United States - his biggest foreign ally – to lift the emergency and restore the constitution.