The verdict is a godsend for Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who deposed Sharif in a bloodless coup six months ago. It removes his enemy as a political threat for the foreseeable future–and yet was lenient enough to shield Musharraf from more world condemnation. Sharif could have gotten a death sentence. During his recent visit to Pakistan, U.S. President Bill Clinton warned Musharraf that Pakistan could become isolated if Sharif didn’t get a fair trial, and if Pakistan continues alleged support of terrorists and democracy doesn’t return. Sharif was convicted for trying to prevent a commercial airliner carrying Musharraf and 198 passengers from landing in Karachi. Sharif’s lawyers say he will appeal his 25-year sentence (the length of a “life” sentence in Pakistan) to a higher court. Questions have already been raised about the justices’ independence. In January, Musharraf ordered all high-court judges to swear allegiance to the provisional Constitution, issued after he took power.
Pakistanis are used to seeing their political leaders go after their opponents. Military ruler Gen. Zia ul-Haq arrested the then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was hanged in 1979 under a controversial murder conviction. When Sharif came to power, he attacked Bhutto’s daughter, Benazir, and her husband on corruption charges. Both were convicted. She is in self-imposed exile, and her husband is in jail on a murder charge. Most Pakistanis were relieved when Musharraf toppled Sharif, whose government was rife with corruption. Musharraf has wasted no time in consolidating his power. The parliament remains suspended since the coup. Musharraf’s opponents worry that he may be inching toward martial law. “There is a gradual tightening of the grip,” says Afrasiab Khattak, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Sharif’s wife is trying to build an opposition movement, but the public has so far shown little sympathy for her or her husband.
Musharraf can’t afford to be complacent. He’s under pressure to jump-start the ailing economy, clean up corruption and enact democratic reforms. He has announced that local elections will start at the end of the year–but said nothing about national elections. Says Khalid Rahman, director of the Institute of Policy Studies, an independent research institute in Islamabad: “People generally believe military leaders are not corrupt; that their decisions may be wrong but their intentions are not.” Impatience has already started to show, even among the young. “Democracy will come, but someone else will bring it, someone who is honest and faithful,” says student Faizal Rashid, 15. Pakistan’s political turmoil isn’t over.
