PAKISTAN: SHARIF BACK AFTER 14 YEARS

Sharif is back in the fold after 14 years

LAHORE, Pakistan – “The Tiger Roars Again” screams one headline acclaiming Nawaz Sharif, but Pakistan’s incoming prime minister faces a host of challenges as he makes a remarkable political comeback after 14 years.

From rolling power blackouts to a crumbling economy, from a bloody homegrown insurgency to perennially fractious relations with Afghanistan and fellow noisy nuclear democracy India, the premier-elect’s in-tray is not short of problems.

A key question will be how he handles the military, which remains one of the country’s most powerful institutions even if the current chief has guided it down a less overtly political path than some of his predecessors.

Sharif ’s last term as PM came to an abrupt and ignominious end in 1999 when he was deposed in a coup led by General Pervez Musharraf. He was sentenced to life in prison by a military court before being allowed to go into exile in Saudi Arabia.

The army has taken a much less political role under current head General Ashfaq Kayani, who voted early and publicly in Saturday’s poll – a powerful symbol in a country ruled for more than half its life by the military. Musharraf is now under house arrest in Pakistan, facing a host of legal cases dating to his nine-year rule.

Political analyst A.H. Nayer said talk of a potential clash between Sharif and the military was overblown. “I think the army will have to back the government, they have no choice,” he said.

“I think Sharif ’s government will come out with an impression that it is not against the army as an organisation – he was against only one general who staged a coup.”

The man nicknamed the “Lion of Punjab” faces a mighty task to make Pakistan roar again. –