Crowds welcome ex-prime minister

Nawaz Sharif, ousted in a 1999 coup, planned to
register for Jan. 8 elections.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned from exile Sunday to an ecstatic welcome from thousands of supporters and immediately stepped up the pressure on U.S.-backed military ruler Pervez Musharraf to end emergency rule.

The arrival of one of Musharraf’s harshest critics was a fresh challenge for the president, who has faced intense domestic and international condemnation since he declared a state of emergency Nov. 3, locking up thousands of opponents, purging the Supreme Court and muzzling the media.

Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in a 1999 coup, planned to register for crucial Jan. 8 elections by the deadline today. But he also threatened to boycott the vote if Musharraf does not end emergency rule. An opposition boycott could deal a potentially fatal blow to the president, who has claimed Pakistan is heading toward democracy.

“Musharraf has taken this country to the brink of destruction,” Sharif told crowds of supporters and onlookers from the top of a truck carrying him from the airport into his home city of Lahore.

“When the constitution, fundamental rights are suspended, when people live difficult lives, when judges who make decisions according to the constitution are ousted, will elections in such a situation not be a fraud?” he said.

“Should not such elections be boycotted?” Sharif asked, prompting chants of “boycott, boycott!”

He arrived from Saudi Arabia, where has spent most of his eight years in exile.

Musharraf swiftly booted Sharif back to the kingdom when he flew into Pakistan in September. But the Pakistani leader appears to have lost the support of the Saudi royal family, who provided a special flight to carry Sharif and a host of his relatives home.

Sharif had to fight his way through a crush of wildly cheering supporters outside the airport terminal.

A car carrying Sharif left the airport in a snail-paced procession toward a shrine in the center of the city, surrounded by supporters waving the green flags of his party and chanting “Musharraf go!”

Police had deployed some 5,000 officers in an attempt to prevent chaos at the airport and protect Sharif from the fate of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, whose homecoming was wrecked by a suicide bombing that killed about 150 people.