Uncertainty:

The triumphal return of Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister that Gen Pervez Musharraf overthrew in 1999, has made the contest for Pakistan’s future more uncertain than it already was and injected another player into the game: Saudi Arabia.

Sharif presents himself as an uncompromising champion of democracy and constitutional rule, but his years in office tell a different and more troubling story - one of corruption, high-handedness and attempts to bully independent journalists and jurists. Sharif’s chief civilian rival is Benazir Bhutto, another former prime minister. Though her own years in office were also seriously marred by corruption, Bhutto is a somewhat more plausible champion of secularism, democracy and a real fight against Al Qaeda and Taliban bases on Pakistani soil. The Saudis do not relish her returning to power.

Despite these obstacles, both Sharif and Bhutto have filed to run, while demanding an end to emergency rule and threatening to boycott the polls. That is a sou-nd strategy. There is nothing to be gained by promising Musharraf and his allies a free ride. Their next step should be joining forces to maximize opposition str-ength and help assure the dictatorship’s defeat. It is not too late for Bhutto to repair her democratic credentials and for Sharif to establish his.