Pakistan's main opposition leader Benazir Bhutto said Monday she was ready to form an alliance with Nawaz Sharif as she filed her papers to contest upcoming general elections. It was the second time in two days Benazir had lodged nomination papers for the January 8 vote, as under Pakistan law candidates can stand for more than one seat. "We are ready to forge an alliance with all moderate political parties," she told reporters in Larkana, her family's ancestral home deep in rural southern Pakistan. "We welcome Nawaz Sharif's return to Pakistan. It will strengthen the democratic and political culture."
Sharif, like Benazir a two-time former premier, returned Sunday to a hero's welcome from his supporters in Lahore, eastern Pakistan, after seven years in exile. Nawaz Sharif also filed his nomination papers on Monday for general elections on January 8, a day after he returned from exile, an AFP reporter saw.
Dozens of supporters showered Sharif with rose petals as he arrived at a courtroom in the eastern city of Lahore where candidates were registering for the vote, the correspondent said. His brother Shahbaz also filed his papers for the vote, which the ex-prime minister has said his party may yet boycott if they are held under a state of emergency imposed by President Pervez Musharraf.