(23 Aug 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of news conference with Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
2. Close up Pakistani flag
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nawaz Sharif, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan:
Question: "Mr Sharif, when will you be returning to Pakistan? "
"Well as soon as possible. I am now convening the meeting of our party, the central working committees meeting, and hopefully this meeting will take place in London after a few days. And then the meeting the committee will decide as to when I should go back to Pakistan. But I think it'll be fairly soon."
4. Pakistani flag
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nawaz Sharif, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan:
Question: "Do you plan to contest the upcoming election?"
Sharif: "Not in uniform."
Question: "Will you be running as a candidate?"
Sharif: "Well our party is in the field. Our party is preparing for the contest, to contest the elections. And I am very much part and parcel of my party. So our party will certainly contest the elections."
Question: " And will you lead the party in contesting the elections?"
Sharif: "I will be campaigning for the party and will be leading that campaign."
6. Wide of news conference
7. Mid of reporter asking question
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nawaz Sharif, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan:
Question: "Do you have any concerns about facing (inaudible) charges on your return to Pakistan?"
"There is no charge against me. I am not involved in any case of corruption or (inaudible) back or commission. If Musharraf wants to fabricate certain bogus cases against me it is his choice. But Musharraf cannot find anything over the last eight years against me."
Question: " Are you confident that you will be able to contest an election freely and fairly?"
Sharif: "That is what we have to struggle for, and that is what we are struggling for."
9. Member of audience
10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Nawaz Sharif, Former Prime Minister of Pakistan:
Question: "How much of a set back is the ruling."
Sharif: "As I said dictatorship has lost, democracy has won. So it's a great setback, it should be a great setback to dictatorship."
Question: "So you're confident that this is the end of Musharraf?"
Sharif: "The beginning of the end of Musharraf."
11. Mid of news conference
12. Mid of Nawaz Sharif
STORYLINE:
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can return from exile before upcoming elections, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, increasing the pressure on President General Pervez Musharraf to restore democracy in Pakistan.
Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, another banished ex-prime minister vowing to return, want to front a growing campaign for an end to eight years of military rule during which Musharraf has struggled to contain extremism.
Government officials said they would respect the ruling, but warned Sharif, a sharp critic of Musharraf, that he could face legal action if he returns to Pakistani soil.
At a London news conference, Sharif hailed the ruling as "a victory for democracy and a defeat for dictatorship" and said he hoped to return "fairly soon."
He had harsh words for Musharraf, who ousted him in a bloodless 1999 coup and sent him into exile in Saudi Arabia.
Musharraf has repeatedly vowed to prevent the exiled former leaders from returning to Pakistan.
But with the United States urging stronger action against Taliban and al-Qaida militants in Pakistan, he has begun talking of the need for political reconciliation and for moderates to unite against extremism.
But they also said that the "concessions" granted to Sharif would be nullified.
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