Musharraf on new collision course with Supreme Court

PAKISTAN: President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s expulsion of former premier Nawaz Sharif has sidelined a powerful political enemy. But it has set him on a fresh collision course with the Supreme Court which will rule on expected legal challenges to his bid for a new term in office.

Musharraf’s popularity has plummeted since he unsuccessfully tried to fire the court’s chief judge earlier this year. That set off a nationwide protest movement, galvanizing opposition to military rule and presenting the general his worse political crisis in eight years.

Musharraf is also under pressure to contain a surge in violence by pro-Taliban militants near the Afghan border.

In the latest attack, up to 18 people died Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up on a pickup truck packed with passengers near the northwestern city of Dera Ismail Khan.

With the country wracked by insecurity and uncertainty, Musharraf - a key U.S. ally - has lurched from one political misstep to another, belying the reputation he has enjoyed in the West as a savvy leader who can tackle Islamic extremism and set Pakistan on a path of democratic reform.

Talks over a possible power-sharing deal with another former premier, Benazir Bhutto, have also hit obstacles. A weakened Musharraf has come under more pressure to make concessions opposed by ruling party chiefs who fear being marginalized if Bhutto becomes prime minister again.

When the Supreme Court last month ruled that Sharif, the premier Musharraf ousted in a 1999 coup, had an “inalienable” right to return despite a 10-year exile deal also involving Saudi Arabia, it appeared the political dynamics in the military-dominated country could be changing.

But Musharraf’s deportation of Sharif, hours after his arrival Monday from London, has effectively dashed prospects of a level playing field for Pakistan’s political parties in legislative elections due by January 2008. Sharif’s absence is bound to hurt his party’s chances at the polls.

The party’s failure to achieve a big turnout on Monday following mass detentions of its activists beforehand betrayed its limitations in mobilizing support.

While playing hardball will deepen Musharraf’s unpopularity and could lead to protests by lawyers and civil society activists, Sharif’s deportation has barely kindled a response from other political parties also jockeying for a place in the next government.

Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, in particular, barely voiced a note of criticism, an indication that Bhutto sees her political fortunes in a pact with Musharraf. Also, Islamist parties that have allied themselves with Sharif have offered only a muted reaction.

With the opposition parties apparently divided - and most ordinary citizens apathetic about the country’s elitist politics in which they feel they have little say - the greatest challenge to Musharraf’s continued rule could shift to the Supreme Court itself.

In July, it overturned his suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. Then it ruled that a leader of Sharif’s party convicted on treason charges should be freed on bail. And it has also pushed the government for information on detainees allegedly held by Pakistan’s shadowy intelligence agencies.

Now it will be handling a petition that accuses the government of contempt of court for its deportation of Sharif, which if successful could seek punishment of key officials and increase international pressure on Musharraf to let his archrival return.

“We will fight this battle in the court of law,” Sharif’s nephew, Hamza Sharif, told reporters on the steps of the Supreme Court after the petition was filed on Tuesday. “We are fully confident that we will win, God willing.”

Musharraf’s own supporters also acknowledge that the court could yet prove the biggest obstacle to his ambition to stay on as president.

Islamabad, Wenesday, AP.