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Judge Jafri spared Sharif's life--and Musharraf's career By APARISIM GHOSH April 6, 2000 Web posted at 9:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 8:30 a.m. EST And so Nawaz Sharif lives to fight another court battle. For his family and friends, this is probably the best outcome they could have hoped for. Ditto for his deadliest enemy, General Pervez Musharraf.
But Jafri's verdict puts another kind of pressure on the dictator. Now that Sharif is going to be around a while, Musharraf must prove that other argument for his October coup: that the Prime Minister, despite being democratically elected, deserved to be deposed because he was massively corrupt. Until now, most Pakistanis didn't seem to care that the corruption cases against Sharif were moving at snail's pace: a death sentence for hijacking, terrorism, etc. would have rendered the graft charges moot, anyway. Now, they will expect the dictator to establish Sharif's guilt, and quickly. The trouble is, corruption cases tend to be drawn-out affairs, as Sharif found out when he pursued his political rival, Benazir Bhutto, on similar charges. And the longer they last, the less the public cares--a fact that has helped many a crooked leader revive an apparently doomed political career. Musharraf may be relieved that Sharif is to live, but the general can't afford to breathe too easily. Sound-off about the news in South Asia to TIME Write to TIME at mail@web.timeasia.com Search for recent Asia Buzz
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