Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who returned to
the country on Monday morning after seven years' exile, was again
deported after less than five-hour stay at the Islamabad
Airport.
A TV grab shows exiled
former Prime Minister of Pakistan and leader of Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif waving as he steps off a plane
upon his arrival at Islamabad airport on September 10,
2007.
TV channels showed footage of the take-off of the plane carrying
Sharif, who was deported to Saudi Arabia in a chartered flight of
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
Nawaz Sharif went into a 10-year exile to evade life
imprisonment under an arrangement brokered through Saudi Arabia in
2000, one year after General Pervez Musharraf dismissed his
government.
Vowing to oust the Musharraf government in the coming elections
due later this year, 58-year-old Sharif maintained his return on
Sept. 10, despite strong requests for honoring the exile agreement
from the Musharraf government and Saudi Arabia.
The decision to return was made days after a Supreme Court order
on Aug. 23 ruled the Sharifs could return to Pakistan, which
however offered Sharifs no immunity from possible legal
charges.
Around 8:45 AM (0345 GMT) on Monday, the plane carrying Sharif
from London landed at Islamabad Airport, where a curfew-like
security alert has been put.
All roads leading to the airport were closed ahead of the
planned landing and security personnel reportedly over days have
arrested top opposition leaders and hundreds of activists to foil
plan to accord warm welcome to Sharif.
Police commandos surrounded Sharif's plane immediately after it
landed and later they entered into the plane, allowing other
passengers to go out of the plane.
Pakistani Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed confirmed
that Sharif was taken into custody after a team of government
officials talked with him.
According to officials, Sharif had been offered two options
during the talks, either to be deported to Saudi Arabia or to be
arrested and sent to jail.
Later Sharif was confirmed to be formally arrested on corruption
charges after being shown arrest warrants at the VIP lounge of the
airport.
Former Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif is arrested upon his arrival at Islamabad's
airport September 10, 2007.
TV channels screen displayed footage of Nawaz Sharif's arrest
when the elite police force grabbed him from shoulder and took him
away from the lounge.
A helicopter first took Sharif away and then turned back to a
military airport adjoining the civilian Islamabad Airport, where
Sharif was put into a PIA Airbus flight heading to Saudi Arabia, TV
reports said.
Meanwhile, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party
also filed a petition in the Supreme Court against his arrest and
possible deportation.
Sharif served twice as Pakistan's prime minister in the 1990s
and his second premier term was ended in a military coup led by
General Pervez Musharraf in 1999.
He was thrown into prison in 2000 after being sentenced to life
imprisonment on charges of hijacking and terrorism. And the same
year, he was pardoned and went into a 10-year exile under an
arrangement with the government.
It is convinced that Sharif's return will complicate Pakistan's
pre-election situation and pose challenge to President Musharraf,
whose current presidential tenure expires this mid-November and who
is seeking another five-year term.
The Pakistani government has recently re-opened corruption cases
against Nawaz Sharif and other cases against his brother Shahbaz
Sharif, also a politician, in a bid to stop them from
returning.
A local anti-terrorism court had issued warrants for the arrest
of Shahbaz Sharif in connection with the killing of five youths in
1989, when he was the chief minister of Punjab province.
Corruption cases against Nawaz Sharif are still pending in an
accountability court awaiting further hearing.
Musharraf is currently involved in a dialogue with another
exiled former Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto about a possible
"power-sharing deal" in the coming elections.
Benazir Bhutto, chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party, a
major opposition party with the alleged highest popularity, served
twice as prime minister of Pakistan in the late 1980s and
mid-1990s, and went into a self-imposed exile in 1999 to evade
corruption charges against herself and her family.
(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2007)
