Exiled Former Prime Minister Sharif Can Return to Pakistan

MARGARET WARNER:

Two days ago, I interviewed Benazir Bhutto, an exiled former Pakistani prime minister eager to return home to run for office. Now, it looks likely Bhutto will have company, the man who once replaced her as prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.

Sharif, also in exile, received a green light today from Pakistan's highest court to return home and lead his wing of the Pakistan Muslim league in parliamentary elections this fall. In London today, Sharif said the Supreme Court ruling was "a great setback to dictatorship" and marked "the beginning of the end" for President Pervez Musharraf.

For more on the significance of today's development for America's ally in the war on terror, Pakistan, we turn to Steve Coll, a staff writer for the New Yorker who served in South Asia for the Washington Post.

Steve, welcome back to the program.

STEVE COLL, Staff Writer, The New Yorker:

Thanks, Margaret.

MARGARET WARNER:

Let's start with, who is Nawaz Sharif, and why is he in exile?

STEVE COLL:

Nawaz Sharif is essentially a machine politician from northeastern Pakistan in the Punjab from the prominent business family. He became prime minister first in the early '90s and served a second term in the mid-'90s.

During his second term, he became ambitious in the eyes of the army beyond his station and, after a dispute with the army, was the victim of a coup attempt, a successful coup attempt by Pervez Musharraf. In the aftermath of that coup, he was arrested, jailed on a variety of charges, some concerning his performance in office and some concerning the coup, and eventually a deal was negotiated that sent him into exile for 10 years. That's the deal that was unwound today by the Pakistan Supreme Court.