And another exiled politician hits the ground in Pakistan, this time the very man Musharraf deposed:

Sharif, who has held the post of prime minister twice, landed at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport from Saudi Arabia as thousands of supporters waited to welcome him. He was accompanied by his brother Shahbaz Sharif, and his wife and son.

Sharif's return may help unite opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and other political parties against Musharraf. An opposition alliance, led by Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, has given Musharraf until Nov. 29 to end emergency rule or face a possible boycott of national elections.

Like America these days, Pakistan faces the choices of bad leadership or really bad leadership. Sharif, a conservative, removed checks and balances upon holding the office of PM, declared martial law occasionally in times of political upheaval, and inaugurated Pakistan's official nuclear program in response to the Indian declaration. Things got somewhat better after that until 1999 when the Kargil War erupted in Kashmir,costing Pakistan thousands of troops in a militant invasion of India. Musharraf, after being banned from the country that year, returned and jailed Sharif for the hijacking of his plane. Sharif has since been exiled to Saudi Arabia until just recently.

Pakistani civics seems very complicated and I don't want to even make a dilettantish attempt to clarify its politics, nor will I prognosticate on its future. Nevertheless, a little information is better than none and I post this just for background- it's important that we never look at this or anything else as good guys vs. bad guys. 

One thing I do know, these Risk^tm players do not even deserve any attention at all on the Pakistan matter. Any questions as to why, please refer to Iraq. Thank you.

tags: musharraf  pakistan  nawaz  sharif  

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