Pakistan ruling upsets US ally's plans

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Tribune): A decision by Pakistan's Supreme Court Thursday to allow an exiled former prime minister to return home sets up a possible showdown between President Pervez Musharraf and a bitter rival who could upset the U.S. ally's hopes for a smooth re-election.
A seven-judge panel unanimously decided that Nawaz Sharif and his brother, who went into exile after Musharraf seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1999, can return. The court said their entry "should not be restricted, restrained or hampered in any manner by federal and provincial government agencies."
Musharraf, also the country's army chief, took power after Sharif's government attempted to ban the general from the country and refused to allow his plane to land there.
The Pakistani president, under an intense spotlight as a U.S. ally in the war on terror, had planned to seek election by the sitting parliament between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, when he would have likely faced no credible opposition.
He had then planned to reach a power-sharing arrangement with another exiled prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, after upcoming parliamentary elections, according to sources in the government and Bhutto's party.
But the court decision Thursday throws all these plans into question. Sharif, the leader of an opposition political party called Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, may return in time to contest the presidential election against Musharraf. His party colleagues said Thursday that he planned to come home in the coming weeks.
If he does, he faces the risk of authorities putting him in prison on corruption charges. But that could end up making him a martyr and hero for many Pakistanis.