Sharif vows to fight Musharraf in vote

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LONDON, Aug 24 (AP): Immediately after Pakistan's highest court ruled he could return, former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he would go home soon to lead his party's campaign to oust President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who exiled Sharif eight years ago.
Speaking to The Associated Press in his London office Thursday, Sharif, who once dominated Pakistani politics, confirmed he planned to run for a third term as prime minister.
The ruling by Pakistan's Supreme Court Thursday and Sharif's promise to return and run for office further complicate life for Musharraf, who as an army general overthrew Sharif in a bloodless 1999 coup.
Meanwhile another report adds, About 250 militants and 60 Pakistani troops have died in a month of fierce fighting near the Afghan border, the army said Friday.
Musharraf's recent failed attempt to fire the Supreme Court's chief justice triggered widespread pro-democracy rallies. He also faces US pressure to crack down on Islamic extremists in Pakistan's volatile northwest region near the Afghan border, where attacks on soldiers have increased and the security situation has deteriorated.
Sharif and Benazir Bhutto - another banished former premier with strong popular support planning a comeback - insist Musharraf must let them compete in year-end parliamentary elections if the vote is to be considered democratic.
"If the people of Pakistan elect me to serve the country, I'll be honored to do that," he said.
Washington has made clear that its war on terrorist groups takes priority over the speed of democratic reform in Pakistan. However, it appears to be growing impatient with Musharraf and has been prodding him toward a power-sharing deal with Bhutto and her political party.
On Friday, Sadique al-Farooq, a senior leader of Sharif's party said "there is no chance for any reconciliation" with Musharraf. "It is out of question," he told the AP. "Democracy and dictatorship cannot go together."
Al-Farooq said their party will meet in the capital, Islamabad, Saturday to consider dates for the return of Sharif.
Sharif told the AP he had a cordial relationship with the United States while he was in office, but said Washington must reconsider its relationship with Pakistan and not give its support just to Musharraf if it wants to quell religious militancy.
"In any democracy you can find such menaces, but if a democracy fights terrorism, ultimately it will win the battle," he said. "But if one individual is fighting the battle (he) cannot win."
Sharif - with a full head of dark hair - appeared more vigorous during his interview than when he was forced from his homeland into exile in Saudi Arabia and London, when he looked frail, gray and nearly bald.
He said he would return to Pakistan soon, but gave no date. A committee from his party, the Pakistan Muslim League, will meet in London in the next few days to decide on plans.
The charismatic 57-year-old conservative secularist served twice as prime minister and is known internationally for authorising Pakistan's first nuclear bomb test in 1998.
He was arrested when the army seized power a year later and eventually sentenced to life imprisonment on hijacking and terrorism charges. He was released from jail after signing a pledge not to return to Pakistan for at least 10 years.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled Sharif has "an inalienable right to enter and remain in the country," said Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry - the judge Musharraf tried to fire.
At a London news conference broadcast live on Pakistani private television channels, Sharif hailed the court ruling as "a victory for democracy and a defeat for dictatorship."
Sharif said Musharraf had no choice but to uphold the court's ruling allowing him to return home, but he warned that the leader had routinely disregarded the independence of Pakistan's parliament and judiciary.
"Overall, he's reduced the parliament to a rubber stamp," Sharif said. "The sword of the (National) security council is hanging over the head of the parliament."
Musharraf's eight years in office have been "a symbol of tyranny, a symbol of oppression," Sharif said.
"He doesn't show respect for the courts, or for the rule of law. He doesn't respect the parliament, doesn't respect the mandate of the people and doesn't care about the elected assembly," Sharif said.
As Sharif's chanting supporters celebrated outside the court in Islamabad by dancing and slaughtering six goats, government officials said they would respect the ruling. Government ministers dodged questions Thursday about whether the government would seek to prevent Sharif from competing in the elections.
But the attorney general, Malik Mohammed Qayyum, suggested that the "concessions" granted to Sharif for his release from jail were nullified by the Supreme Court's ruling.
"Let them come and the law will take its own course," Qayyum said.
"In the past one month, we lost about 60 soldiers in suicide andother attacks," Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad told The AP.
He added that security forces also killed about 250 militants in the same period.
Under pressure from the United States to take a tougher line against al-Qaida and Taliban militants, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf sent thousands more troops into their strongholds in the remote frontier region in July.
The fighting has been particularly intense in the North Waziristan tribal region, where militants pulled out of a September peace deal that critics said allowed extremists to take control.
On Friday, the army said a suicide car bomb and a roadside blast targeting military convoys in North Waziristan killed six soldiers and wounding 17 more, officials said.
The suicide attacker struck on a road near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, killing five soldiers, a local security official said.
Hours later, a roadside bomb went off near another convoy in the nearby village of Razmak, killing at least one soldier, said the official.
Arshad confirmed the fatalities, but provided few details.
The official, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media, said troops rushed from Miran Shah to the scene of attacks, and that authorities were trying to cordon off the area to catch any accomplices.
The dead and injured were taken to a nearby hospital, he said.
Earlier Friday, rebels fired several rockets at a checkpoint in Miran Shah, wounding two soldiers, the official said. Troops responded with mortars, rockets and assault rifles, but it was unclear whether the militants suffered any casualties.
Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror,
has about 90,000 troops in the border region tasked with countering al-Qaida and Taliban militants and their local supporters, some of whom support attacks on NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
U.S. officials have also expressed concern that al-Qaida is regrouping in the area, considered a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden, and could be planning major attacks in the West.