The contrast could not have been sharper. Only months after Nawaz Sharif had been bundled out of the country, kicking and shouting aboard a plane to Saudi Arabia, he has been allowed a re-entry without much ado. The General next door is perhaps getting too democratic for his own good. He has not only politely given in to international pressure for the holding of democratic elections in Pakistan, he appears to be laying the foundations for the holding of a ‘fair’, if not ‘free’, contest in January next year. But appearances, when it comes to Pakistan, are almost always deceptive. It is unlikely that Mr Sharif would have had a problem-free journey back without the weight of Saudi Arabia behind him. His benefactor has been a major player in Pakistan’s politics for the past three decades and its advice could have hardly been dismissed by Pervez Musharraf in a hurry, especially if it carried within it the possibility of a long-term benefit for him. Mr Sharif, more acceptable to the Islamic world than a liberal Benazir Bhutto, could emerge as a viable alternative to Ms Bhutto in the long run. Even in the short-term, Mr Sharif, despite all his rabble-rousing, may prove useful by breaking up the opposition against the General and paving the way for the election of a pliant assembly. Mr Sharif’s presence in Pakistan is thus as tolerable to Mr Musharraf as Ms Bhutto’s.

The burden of this truth probably lies heavy on Mr Sharif himself. His loud disclaimers, voiced ever since his return, denying any ‘deal’ with the General, shows that he is painfully aware of being unable to command as much moral superiority over his rival as he did on his previous trip to Pakistan. Mr Sharif’s return, however, has added an altogether new dimension to Pakistan’s swift-changing political scene. If he manages to cash in on his relatively clean image, break into the Pakistan Muslim League support for the president and play his cards right with the army, he may well find himself at the head of the popular movement for democracy in the country. The backing of Saudi Arabia, less imperceptible and less domineering and more acceptable than America’s, and his own support among Islamic radicals, are likely to make him a more popular figure than Ms Bhutto. As for the realization of democratic ideals, he is no more committed to the cause than any of the other players in the ring.