ISLAMABAD, 9 August — Pakistani authorities yesterday threatened to imprison the brother of exiled former Premier Nawaz Sharif if he returned home even as the former chief minister of the populous Punjab province remained defiant. Aides said Shahbaz Sharif is determined to return home to lead his party into October elections.
Shahbaz was elected president of the main Pakistan Muslim League (PML) last week after Nawaz Sharif bowed out of general elections to be held in October, which military ruler Pervez Musharraf has been accused of manipulating. Shahbaz was sent to Saudi Arabia with Nawaz Sharif and other members of the family in 2000. He and his brother face corruption charges in Pakistan.
Government officials say any attempt by Shahbaz to return home would be problematic, as the Sharif family had promised to stay out of the country for 10 years.
Justice Minister Khalid Ranjha said corruption cases were still pending against Shahbaz in court and he would have to face these charges if he returned. "He will naturally have to go back to prison because the corruption cases that exist against him have not been withdrawn." Ranjha said complaints had also been lodged against Shahbaz by the heirs of extremists killed by police during his tenure as chief minister of Punjab. "The courts will also have to look into these when he returns," he said.
But PML Chairman Raja Zafarul-Haq said Shahbaz was determined to return. "He is prepared (to return), even if that means being arrested," Zafarul-Haq said, adding no dates had been fixed for Shahbaz’s return.
Pakistani officials have said the Sharif family, including Shahbaz, signed an agreement in December 2000 to go into exile for 10 years in return for Nawaz’s release from prison on tax evasion, hijacking and terrorism charges.
The family, including Nawaz Sharif, his wife, father, brothers Shahbaz and Abbas, and other close relatives left the country 14 months after Sharif was overthrown by Gen. Musharraf.
The PML said the Sharif family was "forced by emotional blackmail" to leave Pakistan to allow their father, Mian Muhammad Sharif, to seek treatment overseas for a serious heart condition.
Musharraf agreed to allow the father to travel abroad for treatment only if the whole family left Pakistan, a PML spokesman said. "It was emotional blackmail — ‘if you do not sign these papers your father will not be allowed to go abroad for medical treatment’," the spokesman said.
Shahbaz Sharif was also forced to sign papers requesting pardons for alleged money laundering and defaulting on loans, he added.
The spokesman quoted former President Rafiq Tarar as saying that he never saw or approved any exile deal, though he did approve Nawaz’s request for a pardon for his convictions. "When I was the president no papers regarding such an agreement were brought to (me) for ratification," the ex-president was quoted as saying by The Nation daily.
"Had there been a deal, it would have ended up with me as the agreement struck between two governments needed the president’s signature," Tarar said.
While Nawaz Sharif has opted to stay out of the elections, Pakistan People’s Party chief Benazir Bhutto, who enjoys significant support across the country, has vowed to defy the military government’s ban on her participation.
"I will come back to contest elections," she told Reuters on Tuesday from her self-imposed exile in London. "So what if I’m arrested? I can contest the elections from prison. I can win from prison."
The PML and Bhutto’s PPP are part of the multiparty opposition Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) that demands Musharraf stand down and let a neutral government oversee the October elections.
