Tens of thousands of cheering, chanting supporters showered former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with rose petals as he triumphantly returned from exile Sunday, posing a thorny new challenge not only to President Pervez Musharraf but also to pro-Western opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.Sharif's comeback, just 11 weeks after he was summarily deported by Musharraf, the military leader who once overthrew him, marks a complex new phase in the political turmoil that has gripped the nuclear-armed country, a key U.S. ally, for much of the year.
As Musharraf-decreed emergency rule enters its fourth week, his opponents are jockeying for position, seeking an advantage not only against him but also possibly against one another as well. Sharif is more religiously conservative and less overtly friendly to the West than either Musharraf or Bhutto.
"Obviously, it's huge," University of Oregon professor Anita Weiss said of Sharif's return. The author of several books on Pakistan, she said many Pakistanis see in Sharif "a mature, elder" - she paused for emphasis - "male statesman."
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