Absence made public grow fonder of Sharif

Islamabad: Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's reappearance could trigger large-scale defections from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, made up of politicians who have backed President General Musharraf's rule. Intelligence agencies assembled the PML from the remnants of Sharif's party.

Musharraf had let another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, return last month in the hope she would lend him support after the election, but their relations have become fraught since imposition of the emergency.

Musharraf has secured his presidency for now. New judges dismissed challenges to his re-election by parliament last month and he is expected to quit the army.

But Musharraf's fear is the next parliament will be hostile. Sharif, who will be 58 next month, served twice as prime minister, like Bhutto, during the 1990s.

Graft accusations

The administrations of both leaders were dogged by graft accusations, and the country was virtually bankrupt after a decade of civilian rule was ended by Musharraf's military coup.

After the 1999 coup, Sharif was convicted of corruption and given a life sentence for hijacking, relating to his refusal to allow landing rights to an airliner carrying Musharraf.

He could be barred from standing for the January election because of the convictions. But in terms of popularity, absence has made the public grow fonder, as Sharif's defiance of Musharraf won him fresh support.

Sharif, whose party would find it easier to ally with Islamists than Bhutto's, was regarded as a creature of the establishment before his downfall.

Groomed by a military dictator, Sharif was picked as finance minister of Punjab in 1981, and became its chief minister in 1985. In 1990, Sharif became prime minister for the first time, after Bhutto was sacked.

He has two sons and two daughters with wife Kulsoom.