Adil Najam
Former Prime Minister and PML(N) leader Nawaz Sharif is back in Pakistan.
Reportedly he landed in Lahore to a large reception by his supporters and was escorted to a special bullet proof car that had been brought for him. According to The News:
A special plane carrying the PML-N Chief Nawaz Sharif, his brother Shahbaz Sharif and other family members arrived in Lahore from the holy city of Madina on Sunday evening. The convoys of PML-N workers arrived in Lahore to accord rousing welcome to Sharifs. Large welcome banners and pictures of Sharif brothers have been displayed at several places in Lahore. The special plane Boeing777 carried Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif along with 26 members of their family from the holy city of Madina.
The central and provincial leaders of PML-N, lawyers and members of civil society have arrived to receive Sharifs at Lahore Airport. Nawaz Sharif is expected to first visit Data Darbar in a procession and address a public meeting. Security had been tightened in Lahore especially on the airport ahead of arrival of the PML-N leader. Provincial home department has allowed only hundred party leaders to receive Sharifs at the airport, party sources claimed.
According to sources, bullet-proof cars for Sharifs reached in Lahore last night from Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the home department said that the authorities have decided to give free hand to Nawaz Sharif but he has not been permitted for holding a public meeting and rally.
Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and other family members will be transported to home from the airport, a home department statement said. However, thousands of PML-N workers succeeded in arriving airport by crossing the barricades put up by police. On this occasion, the workers raised slogans both in favour of Nawaz Sharif and against the government.
Readers would remember from our prior posts that in August the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ruled that he could, in fact, return to Pakistan despite whatever ‘deal’ he had made with Gen. Musharraf at teh time of his original flight to Saudi Arabia. However, when he did return to the country in September, he was unceremoniously and dramatically deported back to Saudi Arabia with theatrics which rivaled his own attempts not to let Gen. Musharraf land in Pakistan many moons ago.
Now it turns out that he has made yet another ‘deal’ with Gen. Musharraf which has enabled his return.
It is not fully clear what the ‘terms’ of this deal are. Nor what the Musharraf-Nawaz Sharif deal mean
s for the earlier Musharraf-Benazir deal that had enabled her return some weeks back. Nor, in fact, is it clear what what his return (and the fact that now both Benazir and Nawaz Sharif are back in Pakistan) will mean for the future of Pakistan’s politics and the (supposed) forthcoming elections.
In despair, one even wonders if it means anything at all? Or is this just one more drama in the string of topi dramas that have come to define our distraught and fractured polity?
Those who thinks this government made any economic progress in last 6 years (remember these are the years in which $60 billion came to pakistan) read this
http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/nov2007-daily/27-11-20 07/col3.htm
This is horrible that Double Shah (current caretaker finance minister), showed $5.5 billion more in exports whereas the countries where we exported showed less. This is another big scam, this was done by
Thanks God the myth has been broken that if Musharraf is no more COAS then Pakistan would go down the drain and fundamentalists would take control of the nukes.
@Ayjay
Thats what I have been saying about the “overseas Pakistanis”, who think they are the most capable and resident Pakistanis are stupid, realizing little that at present according to some estimates around 3-4 million Pakistanis are resident overseas and even those who are not resident overseas, many still go on short tours abroad. It would take them time to adust to the realities that others are not stupid.
@RE
“I have lived in the streets of Spain , Paris , New Orleans , Arizona , New York and San Francisco since 1983. Based on my life experience I place my 100% trust behind Mushraf ”
how does living in the streets of the above mentioned places make your opinions more weighty?
you are incessantly touting the 11bn reserves without considering that what is the cost of this aid/donations and how short lived their benefits are. They have costed us our sovereignty .. Musharraf does whatever Uncle Sam tells him to do.. be it annouce elections.. uniform issue etc etc.
Our Foreign debts are on the other hand on a record high
http://tinyurl.com/ypts2g
and the rich poor difference is far more than ever.
This reserve is currently the benefit of the upper class and we are told that it will “trickle down” to the masses in time.
Not in a corrupt society without independant judiciary it doesnt.
And without the full support of those whom we routinely and contemptuously dismiss as