Ruling out any compromise with Pakistan's embattled President Pervez Musharraf, exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has vowed to oust the military dictator from power in the next six weeks.
"His tenure ends on October 15 and he (Musharraf) has no constitutional right to remain. I hope to force him to step down by October 15," The Times reported in London on Tuesday, quoting Sharif -- who prepares to return to his home country from exile next week -- as saying.
The deposed premier, who was ousted in a military coup in 1999, said that after returning to the country on September 10, he would lead his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in a campaign to force Musharraf to quit as President by October 15 as well as blocking the dictator's attempt to seek re-election.
Subsequently, he said, the chief of the senate would take over as the acting president and hold elections for a new Parliament which would then vote in for a new President for a five-year term.
Sharif has a second plan too. If he's arrested on arrival as "threatened" by Pakistani government, the former prime minister said that his party would hold "big, massive rallies" to force the military ruler to back down. "I am not alone in this battle. The entire nation is with me."
However, the deposed Premier dismissed speculation that Musharraf might try to deport him to Saudi Arabia on his arrival in Islamabad as "an outright violation of the decision by the Supreme Court" which recently allowed him and his brother Shahbaz Sharif to return home.
"Musharraf has been threatening me with dire consequences. I don't know what will happen. I am not scared," he said, stating that he planned to travel by road to Lahore from Islamabad after arriving there.
