Sharif will return to Pakistan on September 10

BRITAIN: Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said he would return home next month, ending nearly seven years of exile in saudi Arabia and Britain.

He told reporters at a press conference in London: “On the 10th of September, we will be landing at Islamabad”, adding he wanted to “launch a decisive battle against dictatorship in Pakistan.”

Sharif added that he wanted to see restoration of “undiluted democracy...supremacy of rule of law and the constitution”.

His announcement came as Musharraf faced pressure from another ex-premier, Benazir Bhutto, to step down as army chief in a proposed power-sharing deal.

Musharraf’s spokesman has said that the president is still considering the details of the deal and would not be rushed into making an announcement.

The president, a key ally of the United States in the “war on terror”, ousted Sharif in 1999 but has seen his support collapse in recent months.

Protests over his suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry earlier this year have proved damaging, as has the government’s inability to quell extremist violence.

Chaudhry, who was reinstated by Pakistan’s Supreme Court, opened the door for Sharif’s return last week in a Supreme Court ruling.

But the former premier, who served between 1990 and 1993 and again from 1997 to 1999, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges including hijacking and terrorism after being removed from office.

Pakistan’s government has said it is deciding what action to take if Sharif returns, amid speculation it could expel him immediately or arrest him.

Asked by reporters whether he feared being sent to prison, Sharif said: “Even if he puts me behind the bars, that will not help him”, adding that “civil society is already out in the streets”.

Sharif condemned the proposed Bhutto deal as “bad for the country” and “very unfortunate”. “This man, Musharraf, is on his way out ... no one should try to rescue his sinking ship for personal motives,” he said.

“There should be no deal for personal motives ... the people of Pakistan will not allow that.”

After the press conference, his brother Shabaz, who will be travelling with him to Islamabad, also condemned what he described as “meddling” by Washington, in response to press reports that the United States has backed the Bhutto deal.

“We expected Washington, which is propagating democracy, wouldn’t want to be seen as having double standards,” he told AFP. Nawaz Sharif said at the presss conference that Musharraf was “a man who is guilty of subverting the constitution”.

He added: “We’ll fight our battle ... on the streets. We’ll fight our battle in the courts. We will fight our battle everywhere, because we think these are defining moments for Pakistan.”

While in London, Sharif has held talks with opposition politicians including Pakistan’s former cricket captain Imran Khan and representatives from Bhutto’s Pakistan’s People’s Party (PPP) about removing Musharraf from power.

In July, Sharif said at a conference that the grouping of opposition politicians wanted to draw up a “roadmap” to return the country to a constitutional path.

London, Friday, AFP