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 thorny new challenge not only to President Pervez Musharraf but also to pro-Western opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
Sharif’s comeback, just 11 weeks after he was summarily deported by Musharraf, the military leader who once overthrew him, marks a complex phase in the political turmoil that has gripped the nuclear-armed country, a key U.S. ally, for much of the year.
As Musharraf-decreed emergency rule enters its fourth week, his opponents are jockeying for position, seeking an advantage not only against him but possibly against one another as well. Sharif is more religiously conservative and less overtly friendly to the West than either Musharraf or Bhutto.
Mature “male” leader
“Obviously, it’s huge,” University of Oregon professor Anita Weiss said of Sharif’s return. The author of several books on Pakistan, she said many Pakistanis see in Sharif “a mature, elder” — she paused for emphasis — “male statesman.”
In Lahore, the eastern city that is Pakistan’s political nerve center, Sharif’s backers sought to muster a display of support comparable to the enormous crowds that turned out to welcome Bhutto’s return last month — before her homecoming procession was shattered by a suicide bombing that killed nearly 150 people.
“Look at all these people,” said party leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, shouting to be heard amid the crowd in the airport’s cavernous arrival terminal. “And we had only a few days’ notice.”
Sharif’s plans were finalized Friday after a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, who flew the former leader home and provided him with a bulletproof Mercedes, which he spurned, for his journey into the center of Lahore from the airport.
Joy slows motorcade
With fireworks in 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 out windows, jammed the road long into the night.
Sharif, clad in a traditional white shalwar khameez, or tunic and baggy trousers, topped with a black vest, 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, reportedly was told by Saudi officials they were unwilling to risk prestige 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 in 1999, when Musharraf’s coup was widely welcomed. As Pakistan’s leader, he was plagued by accusations of corruption and incompetence.
“It shows how much there is hunger for change,” said Khalid Butt, editor of the Pakistan Observer.
Sharif’s arrival came on the eve of the deadline for registering to take part in parliamentary elections set for Jan. 8.
Party officials said Sharif and his wife and brother would all register as candidates, although the party still held open the option of a boycott.
Bhutto, too, prepared to register her candidacy today, signaling that her Pakistan Peoples Party probably was unwilling to sit out the contest. Opposition parties say it would be extremely difficult to hold a fair election during de facto martial law.
Musharraf suspended the constitution, fired the chief justice and put curbs on independent news sources.
“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 agrees to take part in the vote, it was not clear whether he would be allowed to run, because he has criminal convictions stemming from his efforts to resist Musharraf’s coup against him.
Musharraf turned on Sharif after the then-prime minister tried to fire him as military chief. 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 staffers on the ground, and the takeover was complete by the time his plane landed.
