Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been arrested and flown to prison after returning home from exile, officials say.
Mr Sharif, who was ousted by President Pervez Musharraf in a coup in 1999, was charged with money laundering and corruption, a BBC correspondent says.
Earlier he said he wanted to challenge the president ahead of elections.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has affirmed Mr Sharif’s right to return, but it is not clear what will now happen to him.
On board the plane that carried him home, Mr Sharif told the BBC he was returning to Pakistan to help restore the rule of law.
“It’s democracy versus dictatorship,” he said.
Earlier, paramilitary troops had surrounded the plane, and there was a stand-off on board as Mr Sharif refused to hand over his passport to immigration officials for nearly two hours.
Large numbers of police set up barricades on roads to prevent his supporters reaching the airport, while all domestic flights from Islamabad on Monday were listed as cancelled.
There were reports of clashes between police and crowds of Mr Sharif’s supporters in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Attok, where shots were fired and several people were said to have been injured.
One worker from Mr Sharif’s Muslim League party (PML-N) told the BBC he and about 20 others had been badly beaten by police outside the airport.
On Sunday, the party said more than 2,000 supporters had been arrested by the Pakistan authorities, and several hundred more were picked up in the Rawalpindi-Islamabad region overnight.
A provincial police official said several hundred “trouble-makers” had been detained.
Almost the entire leadership of the party in Rawalpindi has been detained by the police, and dozens more were arrested while attempting to lead party workers towards the airport on Monday morning, says the BBC’s M Ilyas Khan.
Re: Breaking News: Sharif 'taken to Pakistan jail'
Meaning they have taken NS and thrown him out of the country. They put him on a plane, and the plane flew off to Jeddah. What i am worried about is the 40 or so bags he has. Does he file a missing baggage report?
Now if you want to get political about it Musharraf has violated the Supreme Court and the constitution once again. So much for being our leader, if he can't even obey the laws of the land and uphold the constitution.
Re: Breaking News: Sharif 'taken to Pakistan jail'
Meaning they have taken NS and thrown him out of the country. They put him on a plane, and the plane flew off to Jeddah. What i am worried about is the 40 or so bags he has. Does he file a missing baggage report?
Now if you want to get political about it Musharraf has violated the Supreme Court and the constitution once again. So much for being our leader, if he can't even obey the laws of the land and uphold the constitution.
Both Law and constitution says that what agreement one makes, one should fulfil that :) Dhoka aur jhoot do not go too far.
Why yes it is. Violating the constitution and then the laws of the land. How can he be considered a leader when he actively shows he has no respect for the people of Pakistan, its constitution and its laws?
doesnt this show the weakness of the governmnent?is mighty commando scared of one man?and isnt this sheer/blatant act of "contempt of court"?
Mighty commando do not like dhoka and what words are given to him, he make sure that it get fulfilled. Else one cannot call that person mighty commando.
Re: Breaking News: Sharif 'taken to Pakistan jail'
Sweetheart a simple aspect of the law. You can not make a legal agreement which violates the constitution. Your inherent rights under the constitution can not be signed away by any legal document because the act itself is illegal.
Secondly did the Supreme Court - lawyers with more legal experience than you - state that he was allowed to enter the country as per his legal constitutional right?
Re: Breaking News: Sharif 'taken to Pakistan jail'
Sweetheart a simple aspect of the law. You can not make a legal agreement which violates the constitution. Your inherent rights under the constitution can not be signed away by any legal document because the act itself is illegal.
Secondly did the Supreme Court - lawyers with more legal experience than you - state that he was allowed to enter the country as per his legal constitutional right?
Well, let say that NS made illegal agreement in 2000. But once that agreement is made that was with Saudi Arabia too ... than broke that agreement, he broke the law of Saudia.
Now tell me that if a person broke a law of another friendly country and ran to his country (from the prison of another friendly country), what is the duty of his country (Pakistan) when other friendly country (KSA) demands their criminal back? To send that peson back to that other country or not?
Mighty commando do not like dhoka and what words are given to him, he make sure that it get fulfilled. Else one cannot call that person mighty commando.
what abt the dhoka mighty commando did when he violated his oath, and then when he promised to shed his uniform in 2004! no wonder he doesnt like dhokas. ;)
Re: Breaking News: Sharif 'taken to Pakistan jail'
Well, let say that NS made illegal agreement in 2000. But once that agreement is made that was with Saudi Arabia too ... than broke that agreement, he broke the law of Saudia.
Now tell me that if a person broke a law of another friendly country and ran to his country (from the prison of another friendly country), what is the duty of his country (Pakistan) when other friendly country (KSA) demands their criminal back? To send that peson back to that other country or not?
