30 Mins: Pak leaders rule from UK

LONDON DIARIES: Karachi became a battleground between Musharraf's supporters and opponents.

      

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Keywords: 30 minutes, Pakistan

Homeland Pakistan, home England

The quam (homeland) is Pakistan but the leaders - former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz sharif - are in England.

The quam (homeland) is Pakistan but the leaders are in England. Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto, has been speaking - in her own fashion - to the qaum, to the world and perhaps even to Pakistan President General Musharraf.

She's looking for assurances, but it's never going to be easy for an exiled Pakistani leader to buy that one-way ticket from London to Islamabad.

This what Benazir had written in her autobiography, which was updated last month: "As I write this in London, I confess my life is as difficult as it's is interesting. I live from suitcase to suitcase, pounding the halls of the House of Commons and Congress. That is the nature of my life and I accept it".

Once the Prime Minister's daughter, Benazir was sent to Britain to study. Today she is back, the exiled daughter of an executed father, both victims of military regimes.

Pakistan often makes its leaders fugitives - or long-distance leaders as they like to believe.

This is what Benazir Bhutto had told CNN-IBN in an interview: "I am not 5,000 miles away. I am there in the assemblies, the local councils, the villages. I am there everywhere through the PPP worker."

But in Pakistan, leaderless, at a time when opposition to Musharraf is picking up as never before, and with a somewhat democratic of election due, this could be a make or break issue for Benazir, her party and for Pakistan.

The crisis over Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, is not just about the chief justice, or even justice itself.

"The issue of whether former prime ministers can return to contest will be adjudicated by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Given these important Constitutional issues, many people believe the chief justice of Pakistan was forcibly removed because he could not be relied upon to rubber-stamp the wishes and desires of the present regime," she had said.

The Pakistani judiciary and the pressure of street protest, could be doing what the Opposition cannot, simply because the Opposition is sitting in another country.

Says PPP General Secretary UK, Riaz Khan, "Benazir Bhutto cannot address a public meeting in Pakistan, which is direct contact to the people of Pakistan. Secondly, she is away from home, which obviously makes a lot of difference, but she is trying her best. She is in touch with all those people, those office-bearers of the party who matter."

5,000 miles away, London is still as close to Islamabad as you could get politically.

Exiled leaders have found a home away from home within its half-a-million strong Pakistani community. Leader, PML(N), Nawaz Sharif's arrival in London last year, after years of exile in Jeddah, was almost a homecoming.

He had been missing an audience, and now he played up to it. Given the large Pakistani media presence in London, he was suddenly speaking again to Pakistan itself.

"Main aap se sawalon ka jawab chahta hoon. Kis se, aap se, Pakistan ke 15 crore awam se, main poochna chahta hoon ki mujhe bataya jaye, mujhe bataya jaye aaj hamari hakumat ko khatam kyoon kiya gaya. (I want answers from the people of Pakistan. I want you to tell me why did you not want my party in power)," he was heard saying at a speech he made.

Sharif's London arrival was meant to be a brief halt, not a homecoming.

"It's not a question of staying here or there. It's a question of returning back to the country, sooner rather than later," said his brother Shabaz Sharif.

Nawaz Sharif now lives just walking distance from Benazir Bhutto's house near Marble Arch - among some of the most expensive addresses in London. It was not long before the former prime ministers found common cause against Musharraf.

On July 2, 2006, Nawaz Sharif came to Benazir's house to sign their two parties' charter of democracy.

Not all were convinced, and the event was a blow more to a demonstrator - who was beaten up by party workers - than to Musharraf.

This is what the man-handled demonstrator had to say: "Till yesterday Mr Nawaz Sharif was saying, that his policies are totally different from Benazir. And Benazir was saying that he is a totally corrupt man. And now they are getting together. It is just surprising me."

Already, the new-found togetherness is looking doubtful. There are reports that Benazir is looking for a deal with Musharraf that cuts Nawaz Sharif out.

"Unki baat sun-na ya apni baat unse kiarna, ya saudebaazi karna, ye jamhooriyat ki naïf hai, uski rooh ke munafi hai. (Talking to them or making a deal is against democracy)," Nawaz Sharif was heard saying some time after the deal was signed.

But everyone knows that its Pervez Musharraf who calls the shots back in Pakistan, and welcoming words from some Islamabad ministers have convinced nobody.

"We don't want to constrain anyone, we don't want to create hurdles for anyone, any political party. It is for the party to decide how they go about it, and whether their leaders want to come back to Pakistan or not, that is a different question, but we would want all the political parties to take part in the elections," Pakistan's Interior Minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, was quoted as saying soon after.

And this is what Nawaz Sharif had to say in response: "I don't know on whose behalf he has said that because Mr Musharraf is saying the opposite. He says I will not allow Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to come back to Pakistan and contest the elections or participate in the elections. So I think both of them need to sit down together first and sort this out between themselves."

Benazir and Sharif blame the West, particularly the US and Britain, for supporting Musharraf, and as a result, for their exile in London.

"Promotion of democracy should not be selective. And if democracy must be defended in Pakistan, then democracy must be defended in Pakistan too," Benazir Bhutto said, squarely putting the blame on Western countries.

And Nawaz Sharif said, "Well, the double standards are there. I don't blame any country. Maybe certain governments and certain people in those governments are responsible."

The flip side of keeping Musharraf in charge in Islamabad, is offering his rivals refuge in London. Benazir's party colleagues are not yet ready to let her return.

"We have fear that if she will go right away, she will be killed, because there will be an attempt on her life positively," says PPP General Secretary, Riaz Khan.

And this could mean London is home for some time to come - though comfortable, but not honourable.

"Duniya hasti hai, hamara sar sharam se jhukta hai, ki hamare saath ye kya zulm ho raha hai (The world laughs at us and we are ashamed. What is this that is happening to us)," says Nawaz Sharif.

For now, the two former prime ministers are sitting it out in London. And it's not just them. There are others who have had to make London their home for a struggle against one Pakistani regime after another.