Supporters let off fireworks to celebrate Nawaz Sharif's return. Photo / Reuters
LAHORE - Back in Pakistan from exile, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was due to file nomination papers for polls in January he may not take part in unless President General Pervez Musharraf ends emergency rule.
Sharif, ousted by Musharraf eight years ago, said he wanted to help
end "dictatorship" in the country that Army chief and US ally Musharraf has been ruling under emergency powers since November 3.
"General Musharraf has brought this country to the verge of disaster," Sharif told supporters yesterday during a stop on his journey into Lahore from the city's airport where he landed on a flight from Saudi Arabia.
"We have to save this country. We have to unite and get rid of dictatorship," he said by megaphone from the back of a truck.
Western governments fear Musharraf's emergency rule and stifling democracy in Pakistan could be to the advantage of Islamist militants threatening the nuclear-armed nation.
A throng of well-wishers clapped and danced as Sharif, dressed in traditional white shalwar kameez and black waistcoat, emerged from the airport terminal.
Thousands more lined the road from the airport, cheering and beating drums to welcome Sharif, who arrived with his wife Kulsoom and politician brother Shahbaz Sharif, a fellow exile, on an aircraft provided by the Saudi monarch.
Mounting insecurity in Pakistan was underscored by two suicide attacks in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, at the weekend.
The attacks killed at least 15 people, military spokesman Major-General Waheed Arshad said, although some media reported it was more than 30.
- Reuters
