Returning from nearly eight years in exile, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says that Pakistan doesn't have the right political conditions for an election.
"These (emergency) conditions are not conducive to free and fair elections," Sharif said to reporters at the airport on Sunday after arriving back in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has scheduled elections for January 8. He has given no indication that he'll lift the emergency rule he imposed on Nov. 3 before then.
Sharif said that the All Parties Democratic Movement, a Pakistani political alliance, will hold a meeting on Nov. 29 to decide on whether to participate in the elections.
The nomination deadline is on Monday. The Pakistan Muslim League-N has said that Sharif, his brother and his wife will submit their nomination papers at that time.
"Everybody can submit his nomination papers, but the final decision will be taken by the APDM," Sharif said.
The former prime minister also called for Pakistan's constitution to be restored.
Sharif got a hero's welcome. Thousands of supporters pushed past police barricades into Allama Iqbal International airport and carried Sharif and his brother on their shoulders, cheering wildly.
This happened despite tefforts by police to seal off the airport in advance of Sharif's return.
Sharif was ousted by Musharraf, then the army chief, in a bloodless military coup in 1999 and exiled in 2000. He tried to return in September but was sent back to Saudi Arabia within hours.
Now Pakistan's president, Musharraf -- reportedly under pressure from Saudi Arabia -- has agreed to allow Sharif to return.
Musharraf has grown increasingly unpopular since declaring emergency rule.
Police detained about 1,800 of Sharif's supporters from late Saturday onward, claimed Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for Sharif's party.
Federal Information Minister Nisar Memon said Iqbal was exaggerating.
"There are no arrests as such," Memon said. "About 100 people have been confined so that they do not create any issues. We don't want the same mess as there was in Karachi."
Commonwealth calls for fair elections
Leaders of the Commonwealth issued a statement at the end of their summit in Uganda on Sunday, calling on Pakistan to move quickly to create conditions that will allow for "free, fair and credible" elections.
The leaders expressed disappointment that Musharraf has failed to honour his commitment to step down as army chief.
Pakistan was suspended from the Commonwealth by a committee of its foreign ministers on Thursday when Musharraf failed to meet a deadline to lift his state of emergency.
On Friday, Pakistan condemned the action by the Commonwealth at "unreasonable and unjustified."
With files from The Associated Press
