IHT : Pakistan's high court says former prime minister may return

Pakistan's high court says former prime minister may return

By Carlotta Gall and Graham Bowley | August 23, 2007

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was thrust into exile in 2000 after a military coup, could return to the country, in what could be a direct political challenge to Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf.

Sharif, a critic of the current government, leads one of the strongest political movements against Musharraf, and he wants to run against him for president this year.

The ruling could lend momentum to the return to the country of Benazir Bhutto, Sharif's predecessor as prime minister, who has also been living in exile and is another potential challenger to the president.

As a rival to both Musharraf and Bhutto, Sharif could challenge the U.S. strategy of backing the president as the linchpin of its fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the region. It could challenge as well some American officials' preference to see the general and Bhutto in a power-sharing agreement.

Musharraf seized control from Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999. Sharif was imprisoned on corruption and other charges and then entered an understanding with the government to go abroad for 10 years in return for having the charges against him dropped. He has been living in exile in Saudi Arabia.

He said in London that he intended to return to Pakistan as soon as possible. "It is the beginning of the end of Musharraf," he said, according to Reuters.

He and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, who was also forced into exile in 2000, filed a petition to the Supreme Court earlier this month to return to Pakistan, arguing that they were unconstitutionally forced from the country.

"They have an inalienable right to come back and stay in the country," Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry told the court Thursday, Reuters reported.

The ruling is a measure of the strength of the Supreme Court, which has gained power since the reinstatement of the chief justice on July 20. Chaudhry had conducted his own successful battle against Musharraf's attempt to dismiss him.

The president's critics accused him of trying to remove Chaudhry and install someone more likely to bend to his authority in advance of likely legal challenges to his continued rule as president and army chief of staff, a dual role that violates the Pakistan Constitution.

Chaudhry's suspension prompted nationwide protests and street violence, and severely weakened Musharraf even as he prepared to run for re-election this fall.

Chaudhry's reinstatement by the Supreme Court was a strong rebuke for Musharraf, raising new questions about his ability to continue his rule past this year. Thursday's ruling is another blow.

The court ruling will make it difficult for Musharraf now to oppose Sharif's return.

It is unclear whether the government will be able to resurrect the charges originally leveled against the former prime minister.

He was accused of hijacking General Musharraf's plane and faced corruption charges as well.

Amid the deepening political crisis in Pakistan, as Musharraf tries to retain power in the face of profound challenges from both the left and right and perhaps even consider the imposition of emergency rule, Bhutto has been put forward as a potential political ally for him.

Some of her followers, however, reject a possible alliance with a man they see as a dictator.

Earlier this month, in the first significant ruling since Chaudhry's reinstatement, the Supreme Court ruled to free one of the country's main opposition leaders and another vocal opponent of the president, Javed Hashmi, who had been serving a sentence for treason and inciting mutiny in the armed forces. He belongs to the same opposition political party as Sharif.

Musharraf has been an important ally of the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but he has lost much domestic support in recent months. At the same time, intelligence agencies in the United States have increasingly lost confidence in his ability to root out militants from Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Nevertheless, in an attempt to keep Musharraf in power, some American officials have suggested that an alliance with Bhutto would be his best chance of remaining president.

The two met in an unannounced session in Abu Dhabi on July 27, but neither has publicly admitted to the meeting.

Graham Bowley reported from New York. Hassan M. Fattah contributed from Dubai.