Pakistan sends Sharif back into exile
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - - Pakistan deported former premier Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia Monday, just hours after he returned from exile hoping to ignite a popular campaign to oust military ruler President Pervez Musharraf.
In a dramatic showdown at Islamabad airport, the 57-year-old Sharif refused to hand over his passport as he returned from seven years abroad, sparking an immediate confrontation and prompting police to board his plane.
The two-time premier, ousted by close US ally Musharraf in a bloodless 1999 coup, was then arrested on corruption charges and deported, put on a plane to the Saudi city of Jeddah hours after he landed.
The combative Sharif had pledged his return would provide "a final push to the crumbling dictatorship" of Musharraf, who is facing the worst crisis since he took power amid a wave of political turmoil and Islamist violence.
"Nawaz Sharif is now out of Pakistan. He is going back to Saudi Arabia," Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul Haq told AFP.
"The Saudis have openly demanded his return to Saudi Arabia. He has not only embarrassed Pakistan but also the leadership of Saudi Arabia by violating the agreement," he said.
Sharif had agreed to remain in Saudi Arabia until 2010 as part of a deal that saw him released from prison, where he was locked up on corruption charges soon after Musharraf's coup toppled him from power.
The deportation defied Pakistan's increasingly independent Supreme Court, which has been sparring with the president and last month ordered the government not to hinder Sharif's homecoming.
Sharif had arrived earlier on a Pakistan International Airlines flight from London. He shook people's hands and his supporters on board chanted "Go, Musharraf! Go!" and "Long live Nawaz Sharif", a passenger told AFP.
"After negotiations he accepted an offer to go back and returned in a special plane to Jeddah," a senior government official told AFP.
"He came to the VIP lounge and he was shown the arrest warrants. He was also shown the agreement that he has made with the Saudi government to remain out of the country for 10 years," the official said.
Baton-wielding police clashed with around 100 of Sharif's supporters and arrested key members of his party as he returned, while security forces threw up a five-kilometre (three-mile) security cordon around Islamabad airport.
Another five Sharif supporters were injured in an exchange of fire with police in northwest Pakistan, police said.
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party condemned his deportation and filed a legal challenge in the Supreme Court against what it said was contempt of court by the government.
"I believe that Saudi government has also interfered in Pakistan's internal affairs and shown disrespect to constitution and the Supreme Court," party spokesman Siddique-ul Farooq told AFP.
Sharif said before his flight left London that it was time for president-in-uniform Musharraf to go.
"I am going back to my country with the resolve to rid my motherland of problems and lawlessness it is plunged into because of the policies of one man -- General Pervez Musharraf," he told Pakistan television.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that they could fly back. The court has repeatedly proved to be a thorn in the side of Musharraf since he tried to sack its chief judge, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, earlier this year.
That bid set off the protests which spiralled into a full-blown political crisis for Musharraf, who has recently been negotiating a power-sharing deal with another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, to try to stay in office.
Musharraf has also faced growing criticism from the United States, which has taken him to task over Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants operating on Pakistani soil and urging him to make good on pending elections.
Deputy US Secretary of State John Negroponte was set to arrive in Islamabad later on Monday for talks with Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and civil society representatives.
In a dramatic showdown at Islamabad airport, the 57-year-old Sharif refused to hand over his passport as he returned from seven years abroad, sparking an immediate confrontation and prompting police to board his plane.
The two-time premier, ousted by close US ally Musharraf in a bloodless 1999 coup, was then arrested on corruption charges and deported, put on a plane to the Saudi city of Jeddah hours after he landed.
The combative Sharif had pledged his return would provide "a final push to the crumbling dictatorship" of Musharraf, who is facing the worst crisis since he took power amid a wave of political turmoil and Islamist violence.
"Nawaz Sharif is now out of Pakistan. He is going back to Saudi Arabia," Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul Haq told AFP.
"The Saudis have openly demanded his return to Saudi Arabia. He has not only embarrassed Pakistan but also the leadership of Saudi Arabia by violating the agreement," he said.
Sharif had agreed to remain in Saudi Arabia until 2010 as part of a deal that saw him released from prison, where he was locked up on corruption charges soon after Musharraf's coup toppled him from power.
The deportation defied Pakistan's increasingly independent Supreme Court, which has been sparring with the president and last month ordered the government not to hinder Sharif's homecoming.
Sharif had arrived earlier on a Pakistan International Airlines flight from London. He shook people's hands and his supporters on board chanted "Go, Musharraf! Go!" and "Long live Nawaz Sharif", a passenger told AFP.
"After negotiations he accepted an offer to go back and returned in a special plane to Jeddah," a senior government official told AFP.
"He came to the VIP lounge and he was shown the arrest warrants. He was also shown the agreement that he has made with the Saudi government to remain out of the country for 10 years," the official said.
Baton-wielding police clashed with around 100 of Sharif's supporters and arrested key members of his party as he returned, while security forces threw up a five-kilometre (three-mile) security cordon around Islamabad airport.
Another five Sharif supporters were injured in an exchange of fire with police in northwest Pakistan, police said.
Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party condemned his deportation and filed a legal challenge in the Supreme Court against what it said was contempt of court by the government.
"I believe that Saudi government has also interfered in Pakistan's internal affairs and shown disrespect to constitution and the Supreme Court," party spokesman Siddique-ul Farooq told AFP.
Sharif said before his flight left London that it was time for president-in-uniform Musharraf to go.
"I am going back to my country with the resolve to rid my motherland of problems and lawlessness it is plunged into because of the policies of one man -- General Pervez Musharraf," he told Pakistan television.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that they could fly back. The court has repeatedly proved to be a thorn in the side of Musharraf since he tried to sack its chief judge, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, earlier this year.
That bid set off the protests which spiralled into a full-blown political crisis for Musharraf, who has recently been negotiating a power-sharing deal with another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, to try to stay in office.
Musharraf has also faced growing criticism from the United States, which has taken him to task over Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants operating on Pakistani soil and urging him to make good on pending elections.
Deputy US Secretary of State John Negroponte was set to arrive in Islamabad later on Monday for talks with Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and civil society representatives.
posted by Sabu | 4:25 AM
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