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FILE PHOTO: Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attends a summit on climate resilience in Pakistan, months after deadly floods in the country, at the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, January 9, 2023.
Hard Numbers: Sharif’s return to power, Burkina Faso killings, Boeing’s big fine, Trump’s delegates
201: Shehbaz Sharif secured 201 votes in Pakistan’s parliament to become prime minister after a bitterly contested election in which former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s supporters shocked the establishment, delivering the greatest vote share to independent candidates allied to Khan.
170: Authorities in Burkina Faso say jihadist factions killed at least 170 people during raids into three settlements in the country’s north, as extremism spirals in the wake of a 2022 military coup. Jihadist violence has killed over 20,000 people and displaced 2 million in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in West Africa.
51,000,000: Boeing is facing a hard landing, with the aerospace giant paying $51 million to settle over 200 violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations laws, according to the State Department. The government says Boeing may have put national security at risk when its employees downloaded sensitive technical documents while physically located in China and Russia, among other countries.
244: After winning GOP primaries in Michigan, Missouri, and Idaho on Saturday, former President Donald Trump has 244 delegates - more than five times as many as his only remaining challenger, Nikki Haley. Trump’s lead is set to grow this week on “Super Tuesday,” but Haley did win her first primary on Sunday in Washington DC, which nearly doubled her vote count.Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif prepares to release a pigeon in front of supporters in Lahore after returning from self-imposed exile on Oct. 21, 2023.
Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan
With national elections looming in January, Pakistan’s politics just got more complicated as fugitive former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returned Saturday from four years of self-imposed exile in London.
Sharif has been PM three times over the past 30 years. His first term ended by him being replaced by a military-backed president in 1993; his second saw him ousted in a coup in 1999, and his third saw Pakistan’s Supreme Court convict him of corruption in 2017. He then had his seven-year jail sentence suspended on medical grounds, permitting him to leave the country for treatment on the condition that he come back within four weeks, which he has not done until now.
Sharif flew into Islamabad on Saturday just days after he was granted protective bail, meaning he cannot be arrested before his next court appearance on Oct. 24. By later that day, his political ambitions were clear: Sharif flew to Lahore, where he told a public rally of tens of thousands of supporters that he would end unemployment, reduce inflation, revive Pakistan’s ailing economy, and “smash the begging bowl” to stop relying on foreign loans.
If he’s allowed to run, Sharif will face an uphill battle against ousted premier Imran Khan, who also faces legal constraints. Khan was jailed in August on corruption charges, which he is fighting, but a poll taken this summer showed that the flamboyant cricket-star-turned politician maintained a 60% approval rating despite his legal troubles.
What could Sharif’s return mean for Pakistan? Sharif sought improved relations with India, an issue that put him at odds with Pakistan’s military establishment. But Khan also lost the military’s support, leading to his ouster in 2022, and some analysts believe Pakistan’s army paved the way for Sharif’s return as the best hope for defeating Khan.
If Sharif prevails, Pakistan’s relations could improve with the west, but this prospect might be complicated by the Israel-Hamas war. Pakistan has been rocked by pro-Palestinian protests, the country has dispatched aid to Gaza, and Sharif’s son-in-law threatened Israel with jihad using his country’s nuclear weapons.
Expect plenty of fireworks in the months ahead as both Khan and Sharif try to fire up their bases by taking to Pakistan’s streets.