Word: musharraf
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Like a Shakespearean tragedy, what may be the final chapter of General Pervez Musharraf's reign began with an ominous echo of the original sin in its first pages: the October 1999 coup by which he overthrew Nawaz Sharif, the democratically elected Prime Minister. Sharif's highly publicized return from exile on Sept. 10 lasted just four hours; Musharraf had him deported again, to Saudi Arabia. But if his first expulsion of Sharif brought Musharraf to power, the second may well hasten the general's downfall...
...even set foot out of the airport. Nawaz Sharif, two-time Prime Minister of Pakistan, had planned a triumphant return to his native soil nearly seven years after choosing exile over a life term in prison, a choice imposed on him after a coup by then military chief Pervez Musharraf. Despite a landmark Supreme Court ruling last month that the former premier could not legally be denied a return to his home country, Sharif was bundled out of the Islamabad Airport first class lounge by a phalanx of plainclothes police officers and elite special forces soldiers clad in tight black...
...expected the authorities to arrest him upon arrival on recently reopened charges of money laundering and corruption - charges his party leaders call "trumped-up and patently false." Tossing him in jail upon his arrival would not have been a popular move, but it would have been legal. Few thought Musharraf would be willing to risk the unfettered return of a once-loathed leader who has come to represent a renewed call for democracy in Pakistan. But fewer still thought Musharraf would actually defy the Supreme Court order by not letting him in the country at all. "This is a shame...
Even a year ago a Supreme Court injunction would have caused barely a pause in Pakistani politics, but everything changed on March 9, when Musharraf attempted to dismiss an increasingly independent Supreme Court chief justice who threatened to derail the general's bid for another term as President. After an enormous show of support from the Pakistani people, and massive rallies by the country's black-suited lawyers, Chief Justice Iftikhan Chaudhry was reinstated on July 20. Since then the feisty Supreme Court has ruled against the current government on several issues, including Sharif's right to return...
...Musharraf's tenure may be drawing to a close, but his strength is still quite visible. Over the weekend thousands of Sharif's supporters were detained or thrown in jail on specious charges. Last night the secretary general of his party was taken in by security forces, despite having set up a safe house in anticipation of such an occurrence. And a convoy of party leaders setting out for the airport to greet Sharif was stopped less than two miles from its departure point by scores of police armed with riot shields and metal-tipped bamboo staves. Parliamentarian Tamina Dultana...