MIDDLE EAST:President Pervez Musharraf's political problems deepened yesterday when Pakistan's supreme court ruled that his arch-rival, the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, is free to return home after seven years in exile.
Mr Sharif and his brother Shahbaz, currently living in London, have an inalienable right of return, said the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, whom Gen Musharraf tried to fire earlier this year.
The verdict comes at an awkward time for Gen Musharraf, who must confront deepening unpopularity and a growing number of political enemies as he seeks re-election in the coming months. After the verdict, jubilant Sharif supporters spilled out of the court, hugging one another and chanting "Go, Musharraf, go!" One man slaughtered six goats in celebration outside the court gates, leaving blood smeared across the road.
The scenes highlighted how the supreme court has become a stage for Pakistan's increasingly defiant civilians to vent their frustrations at military rule.
At a press conference in London, Mr Sharif hailed the verdict as a "defeat for dictatorship" and promised to return "fairly soon". The government will almost certainly try to stop him.
Long-standing corruption cases have been reactivated in recent weeks and officials have hinted that Mr Sharif faces jail on his return.
"If they want to come, let them. The law will take its course," said the attorney general, Malik Qayyum, in court yesterday.
Gen Musharraf and Mr Sharif's political future were yoked together before in one of the great national dramas. In a crude attempt to depose Gen Musharraf as army chief in 1999 Mr Sharif, then prime minister, refused permission for the general's aircraft to land as it returned from a conference abroad - even though it was perilously low on fuel.
But Gen Musharraf did land, and with the help of fellow generals seized power and hauled Mr Sharif before a court that found him guilty of treason, tax evasion and hijacking.
The prime minister was sentenced to life imprisonment but a year later Gen Musharraf allowed him and his family to go into exile in Saudi Arabia - provided they stayed outside Pakistan for 10 years.
Yesterday's verdict further undermines Gen Musharraf's plan to secure re-election before mid-October. His popularity is plummeting, the courts are hostile, and a much-touted power-sharing deal with the other exiled opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, is now in doubt.
"If she's seen shaking hands with Musharraf, who has become so devalued, she will be standing on the wrong side of history," said Talat Hussain, a television commentator.
The question is now whether Mr Sharif is willing to risk imprisonment. Yesterday he was defiant. "I will face anything that he does against me. I'm not scared of that," he said in London.