Pak court ruling on Sharif may force Bush to rejig options: NYT

The Supreme Court of Pakistans decision to allow the Sharif brothers - Nawaz and Shahbaz - to return to Pakistan to contest the forthcoming general elections is major setback for the Bush Administration, the New York Times reports.

New York, Aug.24 : The Supreme Court of Pakistan's decision to allow the Sharif brothers - Nawaz and Shahbaz - to return to Pakistan to contest the forthcoming general elections is major setback for the Bush Administration, the New York Times reports.

Nawaz Sharif's re-entry into Pakistan politics could overturn Washington's plan to prod Musharraf to share power with Benazir Bhutto as a way of keeping him in power, foreign policy analysts told the paper.

"At the very least, he is not a good friend of the United States," Daniel Markey, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former State Department official responsible for southern and central Asia, said of Sharif.

He noted that, as opposed to Bhutto, Sharif drew his support more from the right of Pakistan's politics, including the religious parties. "But then again," he added, "You can say the same thing about Musharraf."

According to the NYT, Sharif and Musharraf are long-time enemies, and Sharif's return could split the party that supports Musharraf (Pakistan Musim League-Quami) and undo any prospect of his re-election as president for a second consecutive term.

"There is no doubt, however, that the ruling is a strong personal rebuke to the increasingly embattled General Musharraf, who said only last week that in the interest of stability, neither Ms. Bhutto nor Mr. Sharif should return before elections," says the NYT.

The decision also provides a strong indication of the determination of the Supreme Court, and of the newly reinstated chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, to challenge military rule.

General Musharraf tried to dismiss Justice Chaudhry in March, but after a five-month battle and nation-wide demonstrations, the Supreme Court reinstated him on July 20.

Sharif, 57, from one of the richest business families in Lahore, was twice prime minister in the 1990s. He came to power in 1990 with close links to military and intelligence agencies but gained popularity and won a large majority for a second term in 1997.

Yet he clamped down on the news media, civil liberties and the Supreme Court, and faced accusations of gross mismanagement and corruption.

ANI