Sharif gets a hero’s welcome in Pakistan

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 Pervez Musharraf but also to pro-Western opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

Sharif’s homecoming took place 11 weeks after his last attempt to return from exile, in which he was summarily deported by Musharraf, the military leader who had overthrown him. His arrival marks a complex new phase in the political turmoil that has gripped nuclear-armed Pakistan, a key U.S. ally, for much of the year.

As emergency rule enters its fourth week, Musharraf’s opponents are jockeying for position, seeking an advantage not only over him but also possibly over one another as well. Sharif is more religiously conservative and less overtly friendly with the West than either Musharraf or Bhutto.

“Obviously, it’s huge,” said University of Oregon professor Anita Weiss of Sharif’s return. The author of several books on Pakistan, Weiss said that many Pakistanis see in Sharif “a mature, elder” -- she paused for emphasis -- “male statesman.”

In Lahore, the eastern city regarded as Pakistan’s political nerve center and Sharif’s base, his backers sought to muster a display of support comparable to the enormous crowds that turned out in Karachi to welcome Bhutto last month -- before a suicide bomber killed nearly 150 people.

“Look at all these people,” said party leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, shouting to be heard in the cavernous arrival terminal, which was filled with chanting supporters who had surged past police barricades. “And we had only a few days’ notice.”

The celebrations, which drew tens of thousands of people, continued long into the night.

Special arrangements

Sharif’s plans were finalized Friday after a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, who flew the former leader here in a special plane and provided him with a bulletproof Mercedes, which he did not use, however, for his tumultuous journey from Lahore airport to the city center.

With fireworks arcing into the sky, supporters danced in front of his convoy, slowing progress to a crawl. Honking cars and buses, with flag-waving supporters dangling from rooftops and windows, jammed the road.

Sharif, clad in a traditional white shalwar kameez, or tunic and baggy trousers, topped with a black waistcoat, told supporters he had not made compromises with Musharraf to be allowed back into his homeland.

“My return is not the result of any deal!” he told the crowd at the airport.

Much of the impetus for Sharif’s return is thought to have come from Saudi Arabia, which was embarrassed by its role in the previous deportation. Musharraf, who made a 24-hour visit to the kingdom last week, was reportedly told by Saudi officials they were unwilling to risk prestige and popularity by appearing to hold Sharif against his will.

Amid the jubilation Sunday, Sharif’s followers appeared to ignore that he was an unpopular prime minister beset by accusations of corruption and incompetence in 1999, when Musharraf’s coup was widely welcomed.

“It shows how much there is hunger for change,” said Khalid Butt, editor of the Pakistan Observer.

At the airport, supporters hoisted Sharif and his politician brother, Shahbaz, onto their shoulders, shouting, “Nawaz, Nawaz!” And “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif!”

“After all these years, our leader is home,” said Hajira Rasheed, a party worker in her 50s who wore a baseball cap bearing Sharif’s image.

Eye on elections

Sharif arrived on the eve of the deadline for registering for parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 8. Party officials said Sharif, his wife and brother would all register as candidates, though the party still held open the option of a boycott.

Bhutto too prepared to register her candidacy today, signaling that her Pakistan People’s Party was unwilling to sit out the contest. Opposition parties say it will be extremely difficult to hold a free and fair election while the country remains under de facto martial law.

Under the emergency decree, Musharraf suspended the constitution, fired the chief justice and imposed curbs on independent news channels.

“The constitution of Pakistan should be restored, and there should be rule of law,” Sharif told his supporters at the airport.

Even if Sharif’s party takes part in the upcoming vote, it is unclear whether he will be allowed to run because he has criminal convictions stemming from his efforts to resist Musharraf’s coup.

Musharraf, the army chief, ousted Sharif after he tried to fire him. Their confrontation came to a dramatic climax when Sharif tried to prevent Musharraf’s plane from landing after a trip abroad. The general was able to make radio contact with senior military staff on the ground, and the takeover was complete by the time his plane landed.

Sharif was charged with offenses including treason and hijacking and, in a plea bargain, agreed to go into exile for 10 years in Saudi Arabia. He later said that pledge was made under duress.

After eight years of rule, Musharraf has promised to give up his military post by month’s end after his new loyalist-packed Supreme Court ruled last week that his election by lawmakers last month was legal.

Party officials said hundreds of Sharif supporters were rounded up by dawn, hours before his arrival Sunday, in a harsh reminder of the sweeping powers Musharraf wields in the wake of his Nov. 3 emergency decree. Police disputed the figures, saying only dozens were detained.

More than 5,000 people, most of them lawyers, human rights activists and opposition politicians, were jailed in the days after Musharraf’s decree. Many have since been released, but new arrests are still being made, and several of the country’s most senior lawyers remain in prison.

A day before Sharif’s arrival, suicide bombers struck a heavily fortified area of Rawalpindi, the site of Pakistan’s military headquarters. Nearly three dozen people died in that attack, the first major suicide bombing since the start of emergency rule.

Musharraf has said an escalating Islamic insurgency was the main reason for his emergency decree, although most observers believe the real aim was to silence the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. In his emergency edict, Musharraf said “some members of the judiciary are working at cross-purposes with the executive.”

Chaudhry, fired in the first hours of emergency rule, in effect remains under house arrest.

The re-emergence of Sharif as a political force poses a fresh quandary for Musharraf, who has come under heavy criticism for his emergency declaration.

Musharraf’s own party is a breakaway from the party Sharif heads, which retains a large following and would be well positioned to siphon support from the general.

It was unclear whether Sharif might try to ally himself politically with Bhutto. Some analysts believe Musharraf relented and allowed Sharif to return to diminish Bhutto’s role as the main opposition leader.

Sharif’s previous homecoming, on Sept. 9, lasted less than four hours. His plane landed at Islamabad’s international airport, but he never managed to make it out of the terminal. Musharraf sealed off the airport, and waiting government forces bundled Sharif onto a plane back to Saudi Arabia.

--

laura.king@latimes.com