Sharif to return home Sept 10
Friday, 31 August 2007
ISLAMABAD, Aug. 30 (Agencies): Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan's former prime minister, will return to the country on Sept. 10, ending almost seven years in exile in an attempt to block President Pervez Musharraf's re-election.
Ishrat Ashraf, president of the women's wing of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, confirmed Sharif's plans in an interview today in London. Pakistan's Supreme Court in an Aug. 23 ruling rejected the government's argument that Sharif couldn't return until December 2010.
The planned announcement comes a day after Benazir Bhutto, another exiled former premier and Sharif's archrival, said she was progressing toward an agreement with Musharraf that could see them share power.
Bhutto claimed Musharraf had agreed to step down as head of the army, ending military rule eight years after the general ousted Sharif in a bloodless coup.
Meanwhile another report adds, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has not yet decided whether to step down as army chief before an upcoming presidential election, a government spokesman said Thursday.
Asked about a claim by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto thatMusharraf had decided to quit his military post and that she expected him to take the step before the vote, spokesman Mohammed Ali Durrani said: "No decision has been made."
"When he will decide, he will announce it," Durrani said at a news conference.
Durrani, the government's information minister, stopped short of denying that Musharraf was prepared to step down as part of a possible agreement.
Sharif (57) is returning at a time when Musharraf, who ousted Sharif in a 1999 military coup, faces the biggest challenge to his rule as opposition parties protest his plan for a second five-year term and Islamic groups denounce his support for the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism. Musharraf rejected imposing a state of emergency to quell unrest, and said he wants parliamentary elections to be held by Jan. 15.
Musharraf (64) says he may run in presidential elections that must be held between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15. Pakistan's national and provincial legislatures vote to elect the president.
The Supreme Court will decide whether Musharraf can stand for a second five-year term while remaining army chief, after judges yesterday agreed to hear a challenge lodged by an Islamic opposition leader. The court didn't set a date for the next hearing.
Sharif, who was prime minister from 1990 to 1993 and 1997 to 1999, was convicted of corruption and treason and sentenced to 14 years in prison following his 1999 ouster. Musharraf pardoned him in 2000 under an agreement by which Sharif was to be exiled in Saudi Arabia for 10 years.
Lawyers for Sharif, who founded the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz and has been living in London, argued that the exile agreement related only to his dealings with the Saudi government, and didn't bar him from Pakistan. Sharif was joined in the case by his exiled brother Shahbaz Sharif, former chief minister of Punjab province.
Ishrat Ashraf, president of the women's wing of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, confirmed Sharif's plans in an interview today in London. Pakistan's Supreme Court in an Aug. 23 ruling rejected the government's argument that Sharif couldn't return until December 2010.
The planned announcement comes a day after Benazir Bhutto, another exiled former premier and Sharif's archrival, said she was progressing toward an agreement with Musharraf that could see them share power.
Bhutto claimed Musharraf had agreed to step down as head of the army, ending military rule eight years after the general ousted Sharif in a bloodless coup.
Meanwhile another report adds, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has not yet decided whether to step down as army chief before an upcoming presidential election, a government spokesman said Thursday.
Asked about a claim by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto thatMusharraf had decided to quit his military post and that she expected him to take the step before the vote, spokesman Mohammed Ali Durrani said: "No decision has been made."
"When he will decide, he will announce it," Durrani said at a news conference.
Durrani, the government's information minister, stopped short of denying that Musharraf was prepared to step down as part of a possible agreement.
Sharif (57) is returning at a time when Musharraf, who ousted Sharif in a 1999 military coup, faces the biggest challenge to his rule as opposition parties protest his plan for a second five-year term and Islamic groups denounce his support for the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism. Musharraf rejected imposing a state of emergency to quell unrest, and said he wants parliamentary elections to be held by Jan. 15.
Musharraf (64) says he may run in presidential elections that must be held between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15. Pakistan's national and provincial legislatures vote to elect the president.
The Supreme Court will decide whether Musharraf can stand for a second five-year term while remaining army chief, after judges yesterday agreed to hear a challenge lodged by an Islamic opposition leader. The court didn't set a date for the next hearing.
Sharif, who was prime minister from 1990 to 1993 and 1997 to 1999, was convicted of corruption and treason and sentenced to 14 years in prison following his 1999 ouster. Musharraf pardoned him in 2000 under an agreement by which Sharif was to be exiled in Saudi Arabia for 10 years.
Lawyers for Sharif, who founded the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz and has been living in London, argued that the exile agreement related only to his dealings with the Saudi government, and didn't bar him from Pakistan. Sharif was joined in the case by his exiled brother Shahbaz Sharif, former chief minister of Punjab province.