Sharif mulls next move after homecoming

LAHORE: Former Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif prepared to register for elections Monday after returning from exile with a defiant message to arch-foe President Pervez Musharraf to scrap emergency rule.   

Sharif, the man Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, flew home from Saudi Arabia to a rapturous welcome from thousands of supporters who carried him on their shoulders in the eastern city of Lahore.   

After an 11-hour procession from the airport during which his motorcade was mobbed by frantic crowds, he reached a Muslim shrine where he offered prayers as well as some harsh words for the military ruler.   

"Musharraf has brought Pakistan to the verge of disaster," Sharif told a crowd at the monument to the city's guardian Sufi saint.   

"I have made no deal with Musharraf, my deal is with the people of Pakistan," he said, again denying reports that he had reached an agreement with his nemesis on his return to the country.   

Sharif's return on a plane lent by Saudi King Abdullah was his second since he went into exile -- his first, two months ago, ended four hours later when he was deported back to the Saudi kingdom.   

But this time Sharif flew home with the government's acquiescence and his presence will increase the pressure on Musharraf, who has been internationally condemned for refusing to lift a state of emergency imposed on November 3.   

His return has thrown Pakistan's political power-struggle wide open.   

If he forms a proposed alliance with Benazir Bhutto, another former prime minister, he could cause major problems for Musharraf ahead of elections due on January 8 -- and even cause some defections from the president's ruling party.   

But Musharraf's willingness to allow Sharif to return may indicate that the president hopes to divide the opposition vote.   

With Monday the deadline to register, Sharif vowed that his party would file nominations -- despite charges that a vote under emergency rule would be unfair -- in order to "humiliate" those who have supported Musharraf's "dictatorship".   

But Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum warned that Sharif may be ineligible to stand because he had been sentenced to life imprisonment on corruption and hijacking charges before he left the country in 2000.   

"As the election law stands today it is highly doubtful that Nawaz Sharif can contest elections," Qayyum told Dawn television.   

The hijacking case relates to Sharif's alleged attempt in October 1999 to stop a plane carrying Musharraf, his army chief at the time, from landing in Pakistan. That action prompted Musharraf to topple Sharif.   

On Sunday in Lahore, security was tight with more than 6,000 police deployed for Sharif's return.   

Around 1,500 supporters gathered at the airport and several thousand more danced and chanted "Go, Musharraf! Go!" as his convoy inched through narrow streets. Some fired shots in the air and let off firecrackers.   

"Musharraf should read the writing on the wall," said supporter Siraj Ahmad, 35.   

Musharraf is due to step down as army chief and swear an oath as a civilian president later this week after the Supreme Court -- purged of most of its previous judges -- confirmed his re-election in a vote last month.   

Qayyum said he would likely be sworn in on Thursday.   

But the opposition are keeping up the pressure, not least by threatening to boycott the January general elections, which Musharraf wants the West to see as evidence he is moving the country to increased democracy.   

Bhutto, whose party is Pakistan's largest opposition group, is meanwhile thought to favour taking part but her credibility has been hit by having previously held power-sharing talks with Musharraf.   

She has been in touch with Sharif about a strategy and filed nomination papers on Sunday.