Via the BBC: Exiled Pakistani PM can go home
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ruled that exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can return to the country.
Sharif was ousted in a coup in 1999 by Pakistan’s current president, Pervez Musharraf. He was sentenced to life in prison by the new government, but went into exile in Saudi Arabia. His return will add another piece to an increasingly volatile situation in Pakistan.
One has to wonder if the newly re-instated Chief Justice of the Pakistani Supreme Court is behind this move. At a minimum, it will be interesting to see how Musharraf reacts.
Indeed, it has been interesting to see the Pakistani court to be as much of a burr in Musharaff’s side as they have been. Here’s another example from earlier in the month (also via the BBC): Court keeps pressure on Musharraf.
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More bad news for Musharraf. He’s had a harder time justifying martial law lately and it’s really the glue holding his government in place. Real elections will send him packing.
It also seems improbable to me that a freely elected government would be supportive of US involvement in the region; this strikes me as bad for the US and the west in general, at least in the short term.
Comment by Captain D. — Thursday, August 23, 2024 @ 7:40 am
Capt D.
It is a bad news for Americans. They were trying to bring back Benazir Bhutto. They think She is secular and moderate. Now It looks Musharraf has frustrated American move.
Islamists will become more powerful in Pakistan.
Because of follies of American offcials , they have lost an important ally in the region.
Pakistan wil join SCO - an anti-American alliance .
Comment by Munaeem — Thursday, August 23, 2024 @ 7:57 am
http://munaeem.blog-city.com/read/trackback/412033737.htm
Comment by Munaeem — Thursday, August 23, 2024 @ 5:08 pm
[…] Last week I noted that the Pakistani PM that Musharaff ousted in a 1999 coup was going to be returning to Pakistan. Now another former PM, Benazir Bhutto, is getting involved as well (via the CSM, Nawaz Sharif: Pakistan’s new leadership contender): President Pervez Musharraf’s meticulously managed political stage was jolted this week by the news that he may face challenges to his power from not one, but two, of Pakistan’s exiled former prime ministers. The Supreme Court ruled that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – whom General Musharraf ousted from power in a 1999 military coup – is free to return to the country, adding to the political challenge posed by another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, who willingly left Pakistan after Musharraf’s coup. Musharraf reacted by immediately sending an envoy to London to push along a sputtering and stalling political deal with the two former leaders. The London meeting may indicate that the Pakistani president, faced with two formidable former prime ministers as opponents, a newly emboldened judiciary, and hostile public opinion polls, may be ready to cede some of the political space that he has dominated by force and manipulation for nearly eight years. […]
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