Re: Breaking News: Sharif lands in Pakistan/ deported to Saudi (Merged)
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/10/pakistan.sharif/index.html
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) – Former Pakistani Prime Minister and opposition party leader Nawaz Sharif’s attempt to return to Pakistan after seven years in exile ended quickly Monday as police ordered him to board a flight for Saudi Arabia, government officials said.
The move to block Sharif’s return by Pakistan’s embattled president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, could bolster Sharif’s standing ahead of elections expected later this year.
Sharif was briefly taken into police custody at the Islamabad airport about 90 minutes after he arrived aboard a flight from London.
He was placed on another commercial airliner a short time later for a flight to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, where he arrived at approximately 3 p.m. local time (1300 GMT), Pakistani government officials and a Sharif representative told CNN.
The exiled ex-PM was then whisked away in a convoy from the airport, according to a report from The Associated Press.
Clashes intensified following Sharif’s deportation, with his supporters burning tires and blocking roads in Islamabad and the neighboring city of Rawalpindi, police and members of Sharif’s party said.
His wife, Kalsoom Nawaz, has vowed to return to Pakistan in coming days to fight on her husband’s behalf, she told CNN.
“I really wanted to stay inside the house as is our country’s tradition, but dictatorship and cruelty forced me to fight against that,” she said from her home in London.
The two-time former premier, charged with corruption, was deported despite a landmark Supreme Court decision last month granting him the right to enter Pakistan and urging authorities not to obstruct his return.
“It is a violation of the constitution, and it is a violation of the court order under which Nawaz Sharif was allowed to arrive and stay in Pakistan,” Sadique ul-Farooq, a close aide to Sharif said according to an AP report.
Sharif’s brother Shahbaz Sharif, also charged with corruption, said their party will challenge the deportation in court, the report said.
Shahbaz Sharif, who was chief minister, or top executive, of Punjab province, is charged with ordering police to kill five men in Lahore in 1998. At the time of the killings, his brother was Pakistan’s prime minister.
“This will be counted as the blackest day in Pakistan’s history,” he said on Geo TV. “I do not have words to describe my grief. This is a tragedy for Pakistan that a dictator is disregarding the people.”
Authorities in the capital defended the decision, saying it was in the “supreme interest” of the country.
“Sharif’s deportation is in accordance with law and ethics,” Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told local media, AP reported.
As the jetliner that flew Sharif from London stopped on the tarmac Monday morning, it was immediately surrounded by police commandos who boarded it along with government officials, sources said.
Fearing he might be arrested if he stepped off the plane, Sharif refused to hand over his passport and calmly sat in his airline seat, surrounded by a crush of aides, reporters, and others.
“Frankly I don’t know what is happening,” he told a reporter in a soft voice. He accused Musharraf’s government of “dramatizing the whole issue.”
“The police officers came up on the plane. They have no reason to come up into the plane and then interact with the passengers directly,” Sharif said. “It is not their function.”
“I have a message of hope, I have a message of tranquility, peace and national reconciliation,” Sharif, hoping to campaign against the country’s military ruler, had told reporters on the plane.
After 90 minutes of negotiations he was allowed to enter the airport where he was taken into custody and then put on a plane out of Pakistan.
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Watch Sharif’s plane at Islamabad airport »](http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/10/pakistan.sharif/index.html#cnnSTCVideo)
Meanwhile, police used tear gas and batons against Sharif supporters near the airport Monday morning and arrested 635 of them, the sources said.
Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said those taken into custody would be released soon.
Ahead of his arrival, the Pakistani government arrested at least 3,000 Sharif supporters, including members of parliament, police sources said. Most of those arrested were in Punjab province, a stronghold of support for Sharif, police sources said. Also arrested early Monday were Pakistan Muslim League Chairman Zafar ul Haq and Acting President Jawaid Hashmi.
A government official said the arrests occurred because the government has banned public rallies. Security around Islamabad’s airport was also tightened, police sources said.
A number of journalists said they had been beaten by police.
It was Nawaz Sharif whom Musharraf](http://topics.cnn.com/topics/pervez_musharraf) deposed in a bloodless coup in 1999. Convicted of tax evasion and treason, Sharif was released in 2000 in exchange for agreeing to 10 years of exile. He has been in exile in Saudi Arabia since then and under the agreement was not allowed to travel or directly take part in Pakistani politics.
But that agreement changed last week, when Pakistan’s Supreme Court lifted the exile order and Sharif](http://topics.cnn.com/topics/nawaz_sharif), who retains his Pakistani citizenship, announced his plans to return.
The top court’s ruling came after the recent reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, whose brief house arrest and suspension by Musharraf in March sparked widespread protests against the Pakistani ruler. Since then, Musharraf’s popularity has plummeted and he has discussed a power-sharing deal with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in an effort to remain in office.
Since his reinstatement, Chaudhry has played a leading role in key rulings that have weakened Musharraf’s grip on power, including lifting Sharif’s exile order.
Sharif has hinted that he may try to regain his position as prime minister and has blasted fellow opposition leader Benazir Bhutto](http://topics.cnn.com/topics/benazir_bhutto) for negotiating with Musharraf on a possible power-sharing deal.
“How can a democrat share power with a dictator?” he said shortly after his exile was lifted.
In a recent interview with CNN’s Nic Roberston, Sharif was vague on whether he would try to reclaim his previous position, only saying he planned to “keep the struggle on against dictatorship.”
He called on the United States to support democracy in Pakistan, particularly because it “is preaching democracy in Iraq [and] preaching democracy in Afghanistan.”
Nawaz Sharif also said he was not concerned that he would be jailed upon returning to Pakistan because “I am absolutely clean and clear.”
“There are no charges of corruption against me,” he said. “If Musharraf tries to fabricate false cases against me, we will face them.”
Musharraf was elected president in a 2002 vote that was widely viewed as rigged. His five-year presidential term expires in November and he is seeking to retain his position as president.
As part of the negotiations on a power-sharing deal with Bhutto, Musharraf agreed to abandon his bid to remain Pakistan’s army chief but has yet to make a formal announcement.
Aryn Baker, a reporter for Time Magazine, described Musharraf’s actions against Sharif as a blessing for the opposition leader.
“If Sharif can campaign as he wants, his support is only going to grow,” Baker told CNN on Monday. "He’ll be able to give speeches and rally more people to his side.
"However if he’s arrested – as about 100 of his top party leaders have been – people will rally around him even more."E-mail to a friend](http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/10/pakistan.sharif/index.html#)