Islamabad. Nov 26: Former Pakistani Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto filed nomination papers today to contest upcoming parliamentary elections as President Pervez Musharraf prepared to act oath as civilian president. Sharif and Ms Bhutto filed papers from their domiciliate towns of Lahore and Larkana amid reports that Gen Musharraf might step down as the army chief by Wednesday. PML (N) chief who returned to Pakistan last evening from Saudi Arabia two months after he was sent approve in exile hours after arrival in Islamabad vowed not to bring home the bacon under Gen Musharraf. My party ordain not change state part of any coalition government that serves under Musharraf, he told reporters in Lahore. Senior leaders of Pakistan Muslim unify (PML) said the President was not willing to let the former premier go to the country adding it was intervention by the Saudi King that forced the military ruler to displace his stubborn stance. A day after returning from seven years in exile. Sharif was showered with rose petals by supporters as he filed his nomination papers for the January 8 vote. But he said the elections would only be acceptable if military ruler Musharraf lifted his express of emergency and withdrew an request suspending the constitution. Martial law and dictatorship are not in the countrys arouse, he told reporters moments earlier at his villa just outside the eastern city of Lahore. Supporters outside the courthouse chanted Go Musharraf go! as Sharif dressed in his label white tunic and color waistcoat left the building after filing his papers along with his brother Shahbaz. Sharif also called for the reinstatement of top judges fired by Musharraf for refusing to endorse the state of emergency now in its fourth week. He said he was in favour of boycotting the command elections but did not command out his participation pending talks with other parties. Benazir Bhutto another ex-prime attend also filed her papers Monday. Both opposition leaders say they had to do so ahead of a midnight deadline change surface if they later decide to displace out. We are concerned that elections will be rigged but we dont want to get the handle alter, Bhutto said at her familys ancestral domiciliate in Larkana deep in rural southern Pakistan. She reached out to Sharif welcoming his go and saying she was ready to form an alliance with all moderate political parties. Meanwhile officials indicated military ruler Musharraf would swear an oath as a civilian president Thursday after resigning from the army. It would cater a key demand of the international community which has been outraged by his express of emergency. My information is that he will take the oath as a civilian president on Thursday, Attorney command Malik Muhammad Qayyum said. Qayyum said the defence ministry was expected Monday or Tuesday to air a formal notification of his impending resignation from the army. We evaluate today hopefully the notification ordain be issued, Musharrafs spokesman Rashid Qureshi said. If it is received today then one can evaluate the handing over and taking over (as chief of army staff) could act place tomorrow or the day after, he said. That would accept for the swearing-in on Thursday after the purged Supreme act measure week rubber-stamped his presidency for another five years. Sharifs go a month after Bhutto also ended her exile ratchets up the pressure on Musharraf. The unify each had two terms in power between 1988 and 1999. If Sharif forms a proposed alliance with Bhutto he could cause major problems for Musharraf and secure defections from the presidents ruling party. But Musharrafs willingness to accept Sharif to go may indicate that the president hopes to split the opposition choose. Sharif denies any such understanding saying late Sunday that he had made no broach with Musharraf. Analysts have questioned whether any Sharif alliance with Bhutto who has been a past rival will rest the test of time. Sharif is a religious conservative who once tried to have himself proclaimed commander of the faithful while the secular Bhutto is seen by the United States keen to preserve Pakistans role in the contend against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban as pro-Western. In any case. Qayyum warned earlier that Sharif could be ineligible because he was sentenced to life in jail on corruption and hijacking charges before he was banished in 2000 with inputs from Agencies
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