Khaleej Times, 8/21/02

ISLAMABAD - Deposed Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif will not return to Pakistan, his spokesman said on Tuesday, putting to rest speculation the veteran political leader would defy Pakistan's military administration and personally contest October's elections. Siddiqul Farooq, chief spokesman for the deposed prime minister and his Pakistan Muslim League (PML), said fears for Sharif's safety and the risk of widespread civil unrest had forced the "reluctant" decision.

"We now feel certain Musharraf will turn his plane away," Farooq said, referring to Pakistan's self-declared President Pervez Musharraf who ousted the two-time former prime minister in a bloodless coup in October 1999. "Some weeks ago the prime minister (Sharif) said he wanted to return and every airport in Pakistan was put on high alert," Farooq said. "The Airport Security Force and army troops were deployed and instructed not to allow any plane with any member of the Sharif family on board to land.

"If the prime minister did return, the streets of Pakistan would be filled with his supporters and General Musharraf would not tolerate that as it would put extraordinary pressure on his government." Farooq said instead the Sharif political dynasty would be represented in October's polls by Nawaz's younger brother, Shahbaz, his wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, and possibly his daughter, Mariam Safdar.

He said final PML nominations would be finalised Thursday, two days before an electoral commission deadline for candidate registration. Some 16 members of the Sharif clan have been living in exile in Saudi Arabia for the past 20 months. Musharraf has said the exiled Sharifs, a billionaire industrialist family, had signed a "confidential" document agreeing to stay away from Pakistan for 10 years.

The Sharifs deny any such pact exists, but Musharraf categorically stated in an exclusive interview late Monday with AFP that Shahbaz Sharif would also not be participating in October's polls. "He'll board the next plane and go back to Saudi Arabia," if he tries to fly into Pakistan. "He can't come back."

The Pakistan Muslim League, which elected Shahbaz its new leader August 3, alleges Shahbaz had been forced to sign papers seeking a pardon on untried graft charges which effectively bars him from holding public office. Pakistani officials have said the Sharif family, including Shahbaz, signed an agreement in December 2000 to go into exile for 10 years in return for Nawaz's release from prison on tax evasion, hijacking and terrorism charges.

The family, including Nawaz, his wife, father, brothers Shahbaz and Abbas, and other close relatives left in a deal brokered by the Saudi royal family 14 months after Nawaz was overthrown. Musharraf also stands accused of barring another two-time prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, from contesting the election by resorting to legal manoeuvres.

He argues that rampant corruption and misrule under both Sharif and Bhutto drove Pakistan into ruin in a "sham democracy" during the 1990s. Both are barred from running for a third term as prime minister under a new Musharraf law which bans two-time premiers from seeking another stint in office.

Musharraf has asserted Pakistan needed new faces in its political arena for real democracy to take root. "The whole people of Pakistan want changes of faces, they are fed up with politicians, they are fed up with all of them," he said. "So let's have new faces, new leadership emerging in Pakistan and better politics, better democracy." In a related political development, Musharraf yesterday accepted the resignations of three ministers, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.

Minister for Population Welfare Attiya Inayatullah, Education Minister Zubiada Jalal and Minister for Kashmir Affairs Abbas Sarfaraz Khan submitted their resignations during calls on President Musharraf Tuesday. The three will be contesting October's elections and are required to surrender their portfolios before running as candidates under Pakistan's electoral law. - AFP