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.

The story indicates that Bhutto could be the wild card, either allying with Musharaff or with Sharif.

Sharif will cause concerns with the US because:

“Sharif is close to the religious parties,” explains Rais. Sharif’s government had attempted to introduce Sharia, Islamic law in Pakistan months before being overthrown, and individuals in his close immediate circle overlap with the Jamat-e-Islami, the largest Islamist party in Pakistan. “His agenda of religious identity politics doesn’t sit well with many, especially the Western powers,” says Rais.

The BBC notes this morning that Bhutto is very much asserting herself (Bhutto ‘ultimatum to Musharraf’):

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has given President Musharraf 48 hours to respond to her demands for a power-sharing deal, media reports say.

[…]

Ms Bhutto wants a clear statement the general will resign as army chief of staff before year end, some say before a presidential vote due in the autumn.

She also wants a pledge to remove legal obstacles currently preventing her from becoming prime minister.

One supposes that she is using the re-emergence of Sharif as a vehicle for making demands. The degree to which she can back up her bravado is another issue.