PAKISTAN’S former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will fly to Pakistan tonight
after seven years in exile, determined to topple the general who ousted him
and accusing the US administration and his rival Benazir Bhutto of
conspiring to prolong dictatorship.
“If America is pushing democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, why should it be
supporting a uniformed dictator in Pakistan?” he asked. “We all want good
relations with the US, but they are supporting a dictator against the wishes
of 160m Pakistanis and that’s wrong.”
Referring to US-backed negotiations between Bhutto who, like him, served twice
as prime minister and General Pervez Musharraf, he added: “Now they are
supporting a deal between a democrat and a dictator and that’s also wrong.
“Musharraf has been hoodwinking the Americans,” he added. “Far from standing
up to the militants he’s the one who created the vacuum for the mullahs to
fill.
“Musharraf needs the threat of terror for his own survival, so he can claim to
Washington that he must stay on as he’s the only one who can control it. In
fact it will never be controlled by him as we saw with the Red Mosque,” he
said, referring to the militant takeover of an Islamabad mosque which ended
in the deaths of more than 100 people when troops stormed the building in
July. “Dictatorships are ideal breeding grounds for extremism and
terrorism.”
As Sharif, 57, held court in his opulent apartment in Park Lane, central
London, with its red velvet drapes and crystal bowls full of sweets, aides
bustled about booking different flights so that the regime would not know at
what time tomorrow he will be arriving.
He and his brother Shahbaz plan to land in Islamabad and travel by road to
their home city of Lahore accompanied, he hopes, by large crowds that will
sound a warning to Musharraf that his days are numbered.
“I can’t describe in words the emotion I feel about going home,” he smiled. “I
had never been away from my country before for more than two weeks.”
The situation is eerily reminiscent of 20 years ago when Bhutto returned from
exile in London to try to overturn the military dictatorship of General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. But at that time Sharif was the one working with the
dictator.
He chuckles ruefully when reminded of this: “Yes, I had close relations with
Zia, but remember that out of 60 years of Pakistan’s history, 32 were under
a military dictator, so if someone is surfacing in politics and it happens
to be military rule at that time it’s not his fault.
“It was my government that undid the amendments passed by General Zia allowing
presidents to dismiss parliament,” he adds. “You judge a person by his
actions and I’m the one who’s taking all these risks of going back into the
country and launching a struggle against dictatorship.”
He looks out across Hyde Park toward Kensington, home of the glamorous Bhutto,
who has captured the headlines for her own plans to return. But it is Sharif
who has startled everyone by being first off the mark. He admits he was
taken by surprise when the courts ruled two weeks ago that he and Shahbaz
have “an inalienable right to return”.
“We were expecting a favourable decision but not so quickly,” said Sharif. “We
were not ready – I still have to pack my suitcases.”
It is almost eight years since the October night when he was removed in a coup
by Musharraf, whom he had tried to dismiss as army chief. He was given life
sentences for hijacking and corruption and was imprisoned. This was commuted
in December 2000 under a deal brokered by the Saudi royal family whereby he
was exiled to Jeddah. Last year he moved to London.
The regime has already given notice that there will be no welcome home. On
Friday it reopened corruption cases against him and an antiterrorism court
issued arrest warrants for Shahbaz. Yesterday Muhammad Ali Durrani, the
information minister, said bluntly: “He should not come back.”
Sharif insists that he will not be deterred: “What will he arrest me for?
There are no cases against me.”
Musharraf’s term as president ends on October 15 and Sharif is determined to
ensure that he is not re-elected. “His attempt to hang on to power by
re-election from the current parliament is absolutely unconstitutional. How
can the same assembly which has a tenure of five years give him a tenure of
10 years – five at the beginning and five at the end? It’s a joke.”
He claims that he, like Bhutto, had been approached by emissaries of
Musharraf: “I would not deviate from my principles. I don’t want to
strengthen the hands of a dictator – I want undiluted democracy.”
He points out that both he and Bhutto had signed a Charter of Democracy in May
last year which “clearly states there can be no parleys or deal-making with
dictators”.
“I’m dismayed and disappointed,” he added. “She came to my house in Jeddah,
then we met here in London and I thought we’d buried the past. It was time
for all democrats to join together. To have one of us take the other course
and start supporting the dictator for personal reasons is too bad.”
Officials from Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) say there is an
“understanding, not an overt deal” with Musharraf. Under this, corruption
cases against Bhutto will be dropped, allowing her to go back to Pakistan.
In return for her party’s support for his re-election, Musharraf will agree
to end his dual role as president and army chief.
Some of Bhutto’s closest supporters are unhappy, believing that she has
inadvertently left the field open for Sharif, although few believe he will
be met by the kind of million-strong tumultuous crowds that greeted Bhutto
when she returned in 1986.
Sharif says he wishes they were going back together as had been originally
planned. “It would have been great,” he said, shaking his head. “We would
have been unstoppable.”
His plan to force out Musharraf is two-pronged – to use the courts, which are
showing new-found independence, and the “force of the masses”. He will then
push for free and fair parliamentary elections due to be held by the start
of next year, in which he and Bhutto will lead the two biggest parties.
Although Musharraf is now highly unpopular, many Pakistanis are regarding
events with a weary sense of déjà vu. “As a Pakistani I feel like crying,”
said Akbar Ahmed, professor of Islamic studies at American University in
Washington and former Pakistan high commissioner to London.
“The country is imploding, we have a breakdown of law and order, a
constitutional crisis and intense anti-Americanism, yet the situation on the
ground doesn’t even seem be a factor – it’s all just wheeling and dealing
for power.”
Both Washington and Whitehall regard the Oxford-educated Bhutto as the means
to put a democratic face on the Musharraf regime. While the vast majority of
Pakistanis do not support the militants, most fear more violence and
instability if the country continues being a platform for Washington’s
anti-terror campaign. This anti-Americanism might work in Sharif’s favour.
Framed photographs of himself with presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton
take pride of place on his table, but Sharif has had no contact with George
W Bush’s administration. His relations with Washington have been strained
since he authorised Pakistan’s first nuclear tests in 1998.
Sharif insists he will be tough on terrorism and expel Taliban members from
Pakistani soil.
“Pakistan must never again allow anyone to use its territory for promoting
terrorism,” he said. “It is very painful to read all these things about
Pakistan becoming a training ground for terrorists. I’d like to see a
forward-looking progressive Pakistan, not a country associated with terror.”
He might not get the chance. According to one government official, there
will be a plane waiting at Islamabad tomorrow to whisk Sharif back to jail
or Saudi Arabia: “The court said he had the right to return, it didn’t say
he could stay or roam around.”
Sharif’s rise
1949 Born in Lahore into industrialist family
1980s Emerges on political scene during rule of General Zia ul-Haq.
Chief minister of Punjab
1990-1993 First term as prime minister. Halted when president accuses
him of corruption
1997 Reelected in landslide
1998 Orders nuclear tests in response to tests by India
1999 Ousted in coup by General Pervez Musharraf
2000 Convicted of corruption; sentence commuted in return for exile in
Saudi Arabia
2007 Supreme Court rules he can return
Click here
to view a television interview with Benazir Bhutto
