Ex-Pakistani PM says he'll battle Musharraf

Colorful past
The charismatic 57-year-old conservative secularist served twice as prime minister and is known internationally for authorizing 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.”

'Symbol of tyranny'
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.

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