Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif flew back to Islamabad yesterday, declaring “My country needs me.” President Musharraf, who deposed Sharif in a 1999 military coup, disagreed and Sharif was promptly deported to Saudi Arabia, as thousands of his supporters were arrested. 

Sharif’s political re-emergence comes after a Supreme Court ruling that he had the right to return. By deporting him, Musharraf further undermines his own political legitimacy, demonstrating that he is forced to rule by decree. Benazir Bhutto’s readiness to contemplate a power-sharing arrangement with Musharraf has cost her political credibility, and Sharif plans to position himself as the “real” opposition leader.

The emergence of Sharif as a champion of democracy is an unexpected turn of the political cycle. By the time he was deposed, his rule had become so authoritarian that a military takeover hardly made much difference. Journalists and social activists, tired of being heavied by Sharif’s goons, cheered his departure.

In 2000, with the Sharif males in prison, I visited his wife and daughter at their luxurious home in Lahore and their even more luxurious country estate. For many Pakistanis, the Sharifs’ palatial homes symbolised the corruption of the ruling class, so there was little sympathy for the fact that the Sharif women had been placed under house arrest in these golden cages.

Still, it was hard not to feel sorry for Sharif’s wife Kulsoom as she described the humiliations inflicted upon her husband and son. She was softly spoken and nervous, twisting a rubber band in her fingers in agitation. “Certain forces” wanted Pakistan to become like Spain, a land once ruled by Muslims, from which Muslims had been eliminated. For opposing this conspiracy, her husband stood accused of terrorism and (the rubber band twisted more quickly) her son had been assaulted in prison.

Daughter Maryam was more self-possessed – even queenly – but also more angry, not only at their fall from power but also at their abandonment by so many former supporters.

“You cannot trust anyone. These people used to follow us everywhere. They would tell us “We are your cats and your dogs.” Now, we can’t get our own shadows to follow us.”

A few months later, the Sharifs were released into exile. Until a few weeks ago, they were regarded as a spent force. But as Musharraf’s power wanes, the cats and dogs seem to be returning. Kulsoom Sharif now says that she will stage her own return to Pakistan in a few days “and see who dares stop me.”