NYT : Musharraf Rival Prepares for Return to Pakistan

Musharraf Rival Prepares for Return to Pakistan

By JANE PERLEZ | November 23, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 22 — Nawaz Sharif, a Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister living in Saudi Arabia, flew to Riyadh from Jidda today to see the Saudi royal family in what appeared to be the final preparation for his departure for Pakistan.

Separately, Pakistan’s Supreme Court today dismissed a final legal complaint challenging the validity of the re-election last month of the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, paving the way for him to be sworn in again as the nation’s leader.

Mr. Sharif, who has been living in exile, is one of the fiercest critics of General Musharraf, who removed him from power in a bloodless coup in October 1999. His return to Pakistan could present a strong political challenge to the party that backs the president and to the party of the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Raja Ashfaq, chairman of Mr. Sharif’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League, in Punjab Province, said that he had spoken to Mr. Sharif by telephone on Wednesday when Mr. Sharif indicated his return to Pakistan had been agreed in principle with the Saudi authorities.

Mr. Ashfaq said it was his “impression” from their conversation that Mr. Sharif would be returning home to participate in the parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 8.

Mr. Sharif tried to return to Pakistan in September after the Supreme Court ruled that he should be allowed to do so. But soon after landing at Islamabad, he was unceremoniously sent back to Saudi Arabia, and it is unclear how the Pakistani authorities will react this time to his return. Earlier this week General Musharraf flew to Saudi Arabia to discuss Mr. Sharif’s future, his first trip out of the country since declaring emergency rule.

Ms. Bhutto, another former prime minister, returned to Pakistan from self-imposed exile abroad last month to lead her party in the parliamentary elections after power-sharing talks between General Musharraf and her that were promoted by the United States.

Since the return of the American-sponsored Ms. Bhutto, a secular female leader, the Saudis have become anxious for Pakistan to allow the return of Mr. Sharif, whom they see as a more conservative and religiously inclined leader.

Since Ms. Bhutto’s return General Musharraf has put Pakistan under a state of emergency to ensure that his election to a new term as president in October was not ruled illegal by the Supreme Court.

In a decision designed to legitimize his election, the Supreme Court today dismissed a final legal complaint challenging his right to be re-elected while also serving as chief of the army.

The ruling by the court, filled with judges loyal to General Musharraf, ended the legal maneuvering in the court that was the original catalyst for the general’s imposition of de facto martial law on Nov. 3. One further small step, which will give final approval to his election victory, is expected from the Election Commission Friday.

General Musharraf has said he would take the oath of office as soon as these formalities are completed. But precisely when the swearing-in ceremony will take place remains unclear. Various presidential aides have given different times. Some say it will take place as soon as Friday night, others predict the weekend, and yet others declare it could be anytime “soon.”

Diplomats in Islamabad, the capital, said they had not been informed of a date for the ceremony. It was also not clear whether General Musharraf would now relinquish his uniform and take office as a civilian leader, a move that he has promised President Bush.

Some Western diplomats said it was still possible that the general would be sworn in as president again while still head of the army because once he relinquished his military position he would become a weaker head of state.

The legal challenges in the Supreme Court to General Musharraf’s re-election in October by the national Parliament and four provincial assemblies revolved around the question of whether he could be both leader of the army and president of the country.

The newly constituted Supreme Court today dismissed the final challenge on that question.

When the Supreme Court, headed by former Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry, appeared ready to rule against the validity of General Musharraf’s re-election, the president dismissed the court and scrapped the Constitution.

General Musharraf took another step to secure his rule by announcing by decree late Wednesday new amendments to the Constitution.

The amendments are intended to make sure that the emergency rule could not be challenged by any court, Pakistani lawyers said.

The newspaper Dawn said in a headline today: “Blanket indemnity for president,” adding that the emergency rule would now be immune from judicial review.

A former Supreme Court Justice, Wajihuddin Ahmed, who opposes General Musharraf’s judicial policies, described the amendments as “protective measures” designed to stop any challenge to his rule. The general would try to persuade the new Parliament that will be chosen in the Jan. 8 elections to approve the measures, Mr. Ahmed said.

The government announced on Pakistan state television that in all 5,634 lawyers, human rights advocates and opposition political party members who had been held in custody since the imposition of emergency rule had been released from jail in recent days. The minister for law and justice, Syed Afzal Hayder, said 623 people remained in prison.

But human rights organizations said it was difficult to verify the figures.

Pakistani journalists continued to demonstrate today against the continued closing of some independently-owned television stations.

The American ambassador to Pakistan, Anne W. Patterson, visited one of the stations, Geo TV, earlier this week. She issued a statement afterward urging the government to allow all the television stations to resume broadcasting.

In unusually blunt criticism by a Pakistani government official, a defense lawyer for General Musharraf, Ahmad Raza Kasuri, accused Ms. Patterson and other American diplomats of interfering “in our internal affairs.”

“People will declare them persona non grata,” Mr. Kasuri said.