Nawaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Indian-Pakistani relations, for years fraught with tension, appear on the surface to have received a boost from the stunning electoral comeback by former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Since Sharif's decisive victory in the May 11 national elections, he and Manmohan Singh, prime minister of nuclear archrival India, have chatted amicably by phone and have invited each other to visit. Newspapers in both countries buzz with editorials and commentaries about the potential for a ramp-up in economic and political ties.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Indian-Pakistani relations, for years fraught with tension, appear on the surface to have received a boost from the stunning electoral comeback by former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Since Sharif's decisive victory in the May 11 national elections, he and Manmohan Singh, prime minister of nuclear archrival India, have chatted amicably by phone and have invited each other to visit. Newspapers in both countries buzz with editorials and commentaries about the potential for a ramp-up in economic and political ties.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may well be the most popular politician in Pakistan. So the Supreme Court's decision Wednesday banning him from holding elective office has set the stage for what could be a bitter showdown between his backers and the already shaky government of President Asif Ali Zardari.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Obama's commitment to scaling back the use of unmanned aircraft to kill suspected terrorists could pave the way for improved relations between the United States and Pakistan, analysts and political leaders said Friday. But the Pakistani government maintained its insistence that the drone campaign does more harm than good and should be shut down. Obama's decision to continue using targeted killings abroad while imposing restrictions that could significantly reduce the frequency of drone strikes comes at a particularly sensitive time for Islamabad as it prepares for a new civilian government led by Nawaz Sharif, who served as prime minister in the 1990s.

Kidnappings, suicide bombings and hundreds of violent deaths have bloodied Pakistan's campaign trail. Still, the parliamentary vote Saturday is being heralded as a milestone in the country's democratic advancement. Once the votes are tallied and a new government formed, it will be the first time in Pakistan's 66-year history that one elected leadership succeeds another, and that the departing government was able to serve out its full term. Politics remains a dangerous endeavor in Pakistan.

As this country's political opposition looks for a leader after last week's assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif may be the last man standing. And his eyes are fixed upon a single goal: to get rid of his archenemy, the man who kicked him out of office in a military coup more than eight years ago, President Pervez Musharraf. Only a few months ago, Sharif was languishing abroad, a deposed two-time prime minister relegated to fanning the embers of his career in bitter exile.

Pakistan's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, a bitter foe of the country's president, can return from exile to lead his opposition party in parliamentary elections. The ruling was the latest in a series of political blows to President Pervez Musharraf, an army general who has ruled unchallenged for most of the last eight years but for whom very little has gone right in recent months. Pakistan's political turmoil is being closely watched in Washington.

Already serving two life terms, deposed Premier Nawaz Sharif was sentenced again Saturday--this time to 14 years in prison for tax evasion. The penalty, which included being barred from politics for 21 years, was handed down by a special anti-corruption court set up by the military rulers who toppled Sharif's government. Sharif, who received life sentences for convictions in hijacking and terrorism cases, has maintained that he's innocent of all charges.

One of Pakistan's most popular politicians was barred by a court Monday from running for a seat in parliament, a ruling likely to heighten tensions within the governing coalition and intensify debate over the status of the country's judiciary. The provincial high court in Lahore, in eastern Pakistan, declared Nawaz Sharif ineligible to run in a by-election scheduled for Thursday because of a disputed criminal conviction.

A defense lawyer in the trial of deposed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was shot to death in his Karachi office Friday, adding a horrible twist to a surreal legal drama. Iqbal Raad, 52, one of the lead members of Sharif's large defense team, was gunned down along with two other people when three masked assailants rushed into the office in the commercial heart of this southern port city. The gunmen fired several rounds, ran to a waiting getaway car and escaped.

There is reason for hope in Nawaz Sharif's victory in the recent Pakistani elections. Sharif, who has twice served as Pakistan's prime minister, has said he wants to build a more robust democracy, revive the country's shattered economy and end the military's 40-year domination of its politics. He has also promised to improve relations with India and take on the radical Islamist terrorism that has tormented Pakistan. The United States should assist him in every way possible to achieve those goals.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - After a resounding victory in Pakistan's national elections, presumptive new Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could have pressed his populist, hard-line approach that paints the U.S. as hopelessly malevolent and self-interested. Instead, Sharif, who served as prime minister in the 1990s, and his top aides have tried during the last few days to ensure that Washington does not feel alienated by his return to power. Sharif's team has denounced claims by critics who call him soft on militants and emphasized that the tension between Pakistan and the United States tied to American drone strikes and other issues cannot be resolved through threats and condemnation.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's overwhelming victory in weekend parliamentary elections returns to power a seasoned politician who historically has had rocky ties with Pakistan's powerful military and is viewed by many as soft on militants and extremist groups. The expected showdown between Sharif, 63, and former cricket-star-turned-politician Imran Khan never really materialized. Sharif's party swept the elections, putting him in a position to lead the next government and become prime minister for an unprecedented third time.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Millions of Pakistanis braved threats from militants and voted Saturday in national elections that marked the country's first democratic transfer of governance and appeared to put former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on track for a potential return to power. The elections change Pakistan's political landscape and probably will sideline the Pakistan People's Party, which has ruled the country for five years. But the results are not expected to lead to any major shift in U.S.-Pakistan relations because the country's powerful military still holds sway over crucial issues such as Pakistan's role in peace talks with insurgents in Afghanistan and the country's relationship with its nuclear archrival, India.

Kidnappings, suicide bombings and hundreds of violent deaths have bloodied Pakistan's campaign trail. Still, the parliamentary vote Saturday is being heralded as a milestone in the country's democratic advancement. Once the votes are tallied and a new government formed, it will be the first time in Pakistan's 66-year history that one elected leadership succeeds another, and that the departing government was able to serve out its full term. Politics remains a dangerous endeavor in Pakistan.

Pakistan is beset by a torrent of maladies. Its government is bankrupt. Its economy is mired in stagflation as the population booms. Terrorists strike all corners of the country. Civil conflict in its largest city, Karachi, has evolved from feuds between ethnic political parties into a Taliban war against them all, exacerbated by ever-powerful criminal mafias. The cancer of extremism is spreading deeper and the death toll mounts. But there is opportunity for change. Pakistan's political leaders have taken major steps toward institutionalizing civilian, democratic rule.

President Clinton and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sought Sunday to defuse a mounting military crisis along the border between India and Pakistan, calling for "concrete steps" to end a series of cross-border raids by Pakistani-backed guerrillas. American officials said it was their understanding that in agreeing to a joint U.S.

In Islamabad, it's not only "the economy, stupid," it's the Islamic insurgency. Those are the most urgent threats to Pakistan, and yet it was the country's weak democratic institutions and political rivalries that nearly provoked sweeping civil unrest this week. Though partly responsible for the crisis, President Asif Ali Zardari nonetheless pulled the nation back from the brink of violence, inadvertently offering glimmers of hope in the process.

It's difficult to overstate the respect that Pakistan's military has enjoyed among its people. Since the nation's violent birth in 1947, the armed services have been touted as the glue holding the country together, having waged three wars with India, defended Pakistan's part of divided Kashmir, safeguarded the Islamic world's only known nuclear weaponry and battled growing domestic terrorist attacks. In recent weeks, however, the military and its shadowy spymaster cousin, the Inter-Services Intelligence agency, or ISI, termed "the establishment" here, have been rocked by charges of incompetency, corruption, abuse of power and extrajudicial killings.

In Islamabad, it's not only "the economy, stupid," it's the Islamic insurgency. Those are the most urgent threats to Pakistan, and yet it was the country's weak democratic institutions and political rivalries that nearly provoked sweeping civil unrest this week. Though partly responsible for the crisis, President Asif Ali Zardari nonetheless pulled the nation back from the brink of violence, inadvertently offering glimmers of hope in the process.