Atom bomb an ace as Pakistan's Sharif woos Punjab

LAHORE - There is little doubt who engineer Zafar Butt will vote for at Pakistan's upcoming general election. You need look no further than the mushroom cloud mounted on his motorbike.

Butt's bike is a homage to two-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who ordered Pakistan's first nuclear tests in 1998, and is a manifesto for why he will vote for President Pervez Musharraf's main nemesis.

Sharif's portrait is plastered over every inch of the bike's bodywork. Plastic nuclear missiles flank the rear wheel, silver plastic fighter jets glint by the headlight and mounted at the rear end is a moulding depicting a nuclear test.

"I'm proud that he tested the atom bomb against India," Butt said, sitting on his bike outside Sharif's house in the eastern city of Lahore in Punjab province, the epicentre of Pakistani politics and the main political prize in the January election.

"It made Pakistan the first Muslim atomic country," Butt said referring to the tests conducted a year before Sharif was ousted from power by Musharraf in a bloodless coup.

The nuclear explosions, which Sharif's government said were vital as a deterrent to match similar trials by arch rival India, drew international condemnation and sanctions but boosted his popularity at home.

"Sharif has people's power, he works for the poor. He made us proud," Butt said.

NO REGRETS

Sharif, who touted Pakistan as the world's seventh nuclear power at the time, lost little time to remind thousands of supporters who turned out to greet him on his return from exile, calling the tests a "gift" of his second government.

"I made this country nuclear and didn't accept U.S. dictation," Sharif told supporters at a rally to mark his return from exile on Sunday. "I have never taken any dictation, and that was my mistake."

The nuclear tests are a source of pride for his support base in Punjab, where Sharif became chief minister in the mid 1980s, a post his brother and top adviser Shahbaz is now seeking, and an ace card in the election run-up.

"I love Nawaz Sharif because he tested the atomic bomb. He ignored President Clinton's advice," said 36-year-old unemployed labourer Nishan Ali, wearing a tunic made from flags of Sharif's party emblazoned with the portly politician's balding portrait.

"He made Pakistan a superpower," he beamed, as he waited among a crowd of supporters for Sharif to file his papers at Lahore's district court as the election race got underway.

Sharif ultimately fell out with the army after he bowed to U.S. pressure, called for militants to withdraw from Kashmir and locked horns with Musharraf, who ousted him.

Seven years of political exile, until mediator Saudi Arabia last week paved the way for his return, are also winning him sympathy.

But like fellow former prime minister and long-time rival Benazir Bhutto, with whom he alternated as prime minister until Musharraf marginalized them both with his 1999 coup, his administrations were tainted by corruption scandals, and many ordinary Pakistanis trust neither.

"I don't believe in politicians. Everyone knows their track record. They are self-serving," said 56-year-old rickshaw driver Ayub Niazi.