World Newspaper and magazine Clippings

A FUN-FILLED life in Saudi Arabia awaits Nawaz Sharif, now that Pakistan’s military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, has bowed to international pressure not to lock up for life the man he ousted（取代, 驱逐）. In the early hours of December 10th, Mr Sharif was taken from his dungeon（地牢）in a 16th-century fort and, along with 17 members of his family and 22 containers（集装箱）of belongings（财产）, including several stuffed lions（死党）, put on an aircraft to exile in Saudi Arabia.

The general has thus been seen to be more merciful than an earlier coup leader, Zia ul Haq, who in 1979 hanged Zulfikar Ali Bhutto（巴基斯坦1978年发生过一次政变，当时的布托总理（贝.布托的父亲）被政变者绞死）, the prime minister he had deposed. But it may be that he is not so much merciful（仁慈的, 慈悲的）as calculating（计算的，预计的）. Not only does Mr Sharif have powerful friends in Bill Clinton and the Saudi royal family, but it suits General Musharraf to get Mr Sharif and his family out of the way. Mr Sharif’s wife, Kulsoom, has been leading opposition to the regime from inside Pakistan, and adding to the tension（紧张局势）there over Kashmir（克什米尔）, where General Musharraf is trying to make concessions（让步，妥协）. From Jeddah, however, neither Mr Sharif nor his wife can cause much trouble.

Mr Sharif was the elected prime minister of Pakistan until October 12th 1999, when he tried to sack（解雇，洗劫）, General Musharraf, the powerful army chief, and was booted out（撵走, 解雇） instead. The general suspended（暂停）parliament, promised to prosecute corrupt politicians and bureaucrats (except soldiers) and leaned on（背靠）the courts to send Mr Sharif to prison. The deal that set Mr Sharif free, albeit in（虽然）exile in a foreign land, was brokered（游说）by the Saudi crown prince, Abdullah, assisted by the foreign minister of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Jasim. According to a Pakistani army spokesman, Mr Sharif has paid for his freedom by agreeing to hand over 80% of the family’s known assets（财产）in Pakistan and promising not to come back for at least ten years. The “ransom”, if you can call it that, includes $5m in cash, five factories, several houses and 24 hectare（公顷）(60 acres英亩) of land.

The deal took months of negotiation（谈判）. Soon after he seized（攫取） power, General Musharraf went to Saudi Arabia, Islam’s holiest（伊斯兰圣地）land, to pay obeisance（敬礼, 鞠躬, 顿首, 服从）to King Fahd, only to be stunned by an intercession（代为求情, 调解）by Prince Abdullah to ask for clemency（和蔼、仁慈、宽大）for Mr Sharif. The general promised not to execute Mr Sharif, which may have been in his mind at the time, and held out the possibility of exile if the Saudis could guarantee that he would renounce（断绝关系）politics. The Saudis were reluctan（t勉强的） to take this responsibility（承诺）, and Mr Sharif said he would never do a deal with an “illegitimate（不合法的） usurper（篡夺者, 篡位者）”. General Musharraf became more enthusiastic to do a deal after the Saudis gave the impression that, otherwise, they might withdraw their support for Pakistan’s ailing（境况不佳的）economy.

Why did the Saudis go out of their way to stand by Mr Sharif? Since 1981, when Mr Sharif entered politics, he had assiduously（勤勉地, 恳切地）cultivated（耕耘）the Saudis and the ruling sheikhs（酋长）of the United Arab Emirates, and had never taken any major political decision without consulting them. As prime minister during the Gulf war in 1991, Mr Sharif speeded the deployment of 50,000 Pakistani troops to defend the holy land. In 1998, despite opposition from its western allies, Mr Sharif tested Pakistan’s nuclear weapons after receiving a nod from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, who was said to be so jubilant（欢呼的, 喜悦的）at the birth of the “Islamic bomb” that he promptly（迅速的）granted oil and money to Pakistan on the softest of terms（优惠条件）. When Mr Sharif arrived in Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdullah embraced him and led him in to an audience（接见）with the king.

The Americans, too, had a soft spot for Mr Sharif. After General Musharraf blundered（轻率粗心的）into a conflict with India in the disputed state of Kashmir in May 1999, Mr Sharif won plaudits（喝彩）for accepting Mr Clinton’s advice to pull out his troops without any quid pro quo from India.

Mr Sharif’s departure（启程, 出发, 离开）makes life easier for General Musharraf. The Muslim League, shorn of its leader, can now be expected to co-operate with the armed forces as it has done in the past. If it wishes, the army can therefore quickly restore the suspended parliament and persuade it to elect a pliant（顺从）prime minister and to approve a constitutional role for the army in power-sharing. A talked-of “national security council”, superior to the cabinet, might include the three service chiefs and be headed by a president, possibly General Musharraf himself. It would have the power to sack prime ministers and parliaments.

As a result, though, the armed forces’ stock is at rock bottom. Those who had hoped they would clean up Pakistan and usher in decent democracy feel betrayed. Protests across the land are loud and clear. Imran Khan’s denunciation（谴责, 告发）of the “dirty deal with a crook 诈骗” sums up the view of opposition politicians. But there may be other “dirty deals” to come. The government says the same plea-bargain（讨价还价）offer is available to Benazir Bhutto, a former prime minister convicted of corruption when Mr Sharif was in power, and now spending most of her time in Dubai; and to her husband, Asif Zardari, who is in jail, also for corruption.

Mr Zardari says he will not make any such deal because he has not stolen anything. Miss Bhutto says she might be prepared to consider staying away from politics “if that led to the democratisation. （民主化） of politics in the country” and was “in the national interest”. Which would doubtless not upset the general too much.

From The Economist print edition