Will Nawaz Sharif Stir Pakistan’s Electoral Pot?

Here is the latest…Pakistan’s exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who recently made an abortive attempt to gain entry into his own country, is likely to be in Pakistan next month to stir the electoral pot along with another former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Sharif was arrested and deported to Saudi Arabia barely four hours after he returned to Pakistan on September 10.

The government of Saudi Arabia (Sharif’s country of exile) has given its approval to former premier Sharif to go back to Pakistan (again) and modalities are being worked out for his return in November, a senior leader of his PML-Nawaz party said on Friday, reports The Indian Express.

“ ‘Saudi Arabia has already told Nawaz Sharif that he can go back to his country whenever he likes. We are working out the modalities so that he can return in November,’ said PML-N acting president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.

“Hashmi’s assertion came a day after President Pervez Musharraf told a meeting of top leaders of the ruling PML-Q and its allies that Sharif would not return to Pakistan from exile before the general election, which is due by mid-January.”

Meanwhile Benazir Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan on Oct. 18 from an eight-year exile, went out to pay her respects to her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s first popularly elected leader who was overthrown by the military and hanged in 1979. During her 45-minute visit, she said prayers and sprinkled flower petals on his tomb and that of other ancestors there. For more click here…

“Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto visited her ancestral village Saturday, her first trip outside Pakistan’s biggest city since an assassination attempt against her killed 143 people earlier this month. Throngs of supporters ran toward Bhutto’s convoy, kicking up clouds of dust, as she arrived in the village of Garhi Khuda Baksh after a 60-mile road trip from the airport in the southern city of Sukkur, where she flew from Karachi.”

The Edmonton Sun has a related article on the subject…

It is obvious that General Musharraf would vehemently oppose Nawaz Sharif’s return to Pakistan. But if Saudi Arabia and the US administration support Sharif’s homecoming, the Pakistani President can do precious little to change the course of events. Sharif’s participation in the forthcoming elections, if it happens, would add credibility to the electoral process in that country.