Ex-premier Sharif joins Pakistan`s election battlefield
Former premier Nawaz Sharif applied to stand in Pakistan`s general elections Monday and vowed that he would never work in government under President Pervez Musharraf.
A day after returning from seven years in exile, Sharif was showered with rose petals by supporters as he filed his nomination papers for the January 8 vote.
But he said the elections would only be acceptable if military ruler Musharraf lifted his state of emergency and withdrew an order suspending the constitution.
"Martial law and dictatorship are not in the country`s interest," he told reporters moments earlier at his villa just outside the eastern city of Lahore.
"My party will not become part of any coalition government under President Musharraf in future," he added. "We believe that any government serving under Musharraf will be illegal and undemocratic."
Supporters outside the courthouse chanted "Go Musharraf, go!" as Sharif, dressed in his trademark white tunic and black waistcoat, left the building after filing his papers along with his brother Shahbaz.
Sharif also called for the reinstatement of top judges fired by Musharraf for refusing to endorse the state of emergency, now in its fourth week.
He said he was in favour of boycotting the general elections but did not rule out his participation pending talks with other parties.
Benazir Bhutto, another ex-prime minister, also filed her papers Monday. Both opposition leaders say they had to do so ahead of a midnight deadline even if they later decide to pull out.
"We are concerned that elections will be rigged but we don`t want to leave the field empty," Bhutto said at her family`s ancestral home in Larkana, deep in rural southern Pakistan.
She reached out to Sharif, welcoming his return and saying she was ready to form an alliance "with all moderate political parties."
Meanwhile, officials indicated military ruler Musharraf would swear an oath as a civilian president Thursday after resigning from the army.
It would meet a key demand of the international community, which has been outraged by his state of emergency.
"My information is that he will take the oath as a civilian president on Thursday," Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum told AFP.
Qayyum said the defence ministry was expected Monday or Tuesday to issue a formal notification of his impending resignation from the army.
"We expect today, hopefully, the notification will be issued," Musharraf`s spokesman Rashid Qureshi said.
"If it is received today, then one can expect the handing over and taking over (as chief of army staff) could take place tomorrow or the day after," he told AFP.
That would allow for the swearing-in on Thursday, after the purged Supreme Court last week rubber-stamped his presidency for another five years.
Sharif`s return, a month after Bhutto also ended her exile, ratchets up the pressure on Musharraf. The pair each had two terms in power between 1988 and 1999.
If Sharif forms a proposed alliance with Bhutto he could cause major problems for Musharraf and secure defections from the president`s ruling party.
But Musharraf`s willingness to allow Sharif to return may indicate that the president hopes to split the opposition vote.
Sharif denies any such understanding, saying late Sunday that he had "made no deal with Musharraf."
Analysts have questioned whether any Sharif alliance with Bhutto, who has been a past rival, will stand the test of time.
Sharif is a religious conservative who once tried to have himself proclaimed "commander of the faithful", while the secular Bhutto is seen by the United States -- keen to preserve Pakistan`s role in the fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban -- as pro-Western.
In any case, Qayyum warned earlier that Sharif could be ineligible because he was sentenced to life in jail on corruption and hijacking charges before he was banished in 2000.
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