November 25, 2007	Sunday	Ziqa’ad 14, 1428

LAHORE, Nov 24: Exiled PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, accompanied by wife Kulsoom, brother Shahbaz Sharif, son Husain Nawaz and all other members of the family, is returning home today (Sunday) after staying in exile for some seven years, most period in Saudi Arabia whose mediation had helped the former prime minister and 17 other family members leave the country on Dec 10, 2000.

Concerned about the security of Mr Sharif, King Abdullah gifted him a bulletproof vehicle which was flown to Lahore by a C-130 plane on Saturday.

Knowledgeable party sources told Dawn on Saturday that there was no shift in Mr Sharif’s thinking about Gen Musharraf and his dictatorial rule. Convinced that no party should take part in the election, sources said, Mr Sharif would approach all parties which had different point of view.

The Sharifs stayed in the Saudi kingdom for five years under several restrictions and then on Jan 29 last year moved to London, where they were free to carry out their normal political activities. The former prime minister had come to Islamabad on Sept 10, when the Supreme Court ruled that the PML-N leader was free to come to Pakistan and stay like other citizens, holding the understanding on the basis of which he was kept out of the country as illegal and unconstitutional.

However, he was deported to Jeddah within a few hours, ignoring the apex court’s verdict. Flabbergasted, the PML-N moved a contempt of court petition against the authorities who ordered Mr Sharif’s deportation. The matter was still pending when the emergency rule was enforced, dissolving the bench which was seized of the matter.

More than three years ago, Shahbaz Sharif had also tried to come to Pakistan. He landed in Lahore and was deported to Jeddah, sending a strong message to the PML-N leaders and supporters that Gen Musharraf is determined to keep the Sharifs out of the country for full 10 years.

During their stay in Saudi Arabia, the Sharifs set up a multi-million Riyals steel mills in Jeddah. Shahbaz Sharif and the sons of Nawaz Sharif also set up their businesses in London.

A few years ago, Mian Muhammad Sharif, the man who made the Sharifs whatever they became in their political and business lives, died in Saudi Arabia after a protracted illness. However, he was buried on the Sharifs’ Raiwind farms near Lahore.

The news about the homecoming of the Sharifs has breathed a new life into what had become almost a lifeless party over the years because of the absence of the leadership and adverse political circumstances.

The development is quite embarrassing for the top leaders of the PML-Q who had been insisting until last week that the Sharifs were bound to stay out of the country for another three years and that the PML-N supporters should join hands with the PML-Q or the division of the PML votes would benefit the PPP.

This is the second ‘shock’ the PML-Q leaders have faced over the past five weeks. The first was when PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto was allowed to come back to Pakistan by President Musharraf despite strong reservations expressed by the PML-Q leadership.

The situation in Pakistan has changed a lot during the past seven years, but in many respects it remains the same. For example, the Constitution was in abeyance and the country was being run through a Provisional Constitution Order when the PML-N leader had left the country and politics under an understanding for ‘five years’, as he admitted in September at a news conference in London after spending seven years in exile.

Though a coincidence, the country has again been under an emergency rule for the past few weeks and the PCO is holding the field with the constitution in abeyance.

The situation of the judiciary is no different either. It was divided by the PCO after the 1999 takeover and has been divided once again as a result of the Nov 3 proclamation.

Gen Musharraf, who had allowed the Sharifs to leave the country then to be able to consolidate his position in power, is poised to start his second term as president when the PML-N leader is returning home.

But the situation is dissimilar to the one in 1999 as the parties, which were seeking the ouster of Mr Sharif for his policies and governance, have become his allies over the years. The PPP, for example, remained an ally of the PML-N for seven years till the two parted ways after the formation of the All Parties Democratic Movement, which the PPP did not like to join because of its reservations about the religious parties.

Although the two major parties of the country are not together, they are not hostile to each other as they used to be when they twice alternated each other in power.

The Charter of Democracy signed by the two along with their allies in the ARD has made them more tolerant.

A gigantic task before the PML-N leader is rebuilding the party which was depleted after the establishment carved the PML-Q out of it.

Mr Sharif is willing to let most of the ‘deserters’ return to the party fold, except those who have been making derogatory statements against the leadership, party sources say.