Pakistan deported former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia yesterday, just hours after he returned from exile hoping to ignite a popular campaign to oust Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
In a dramatic showdown at Islamabad's 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 prime minister, ousted by close US ally Musharraf in a bloodless 1999 coup, was then arrested on corruption charges and deported. He was put on a plane to 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," Pakistani Religious Affairs Minister Ijaz-ul Haq said.
"The Saudis have demanded his return to Saudi Arabia. He has not only embarrassed Pakistan, but also the Saudi Arabian leaders 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 after Musharraf's coup toppled him from power.
Sharif's deportation defied Pakistan's increasingly independent Supreme Court, which last month ordered the government not to hinder his return.
Sharif arrived on a Pakistan International Airlines flight from London.
He shook people's hands and his supporters on board chanted "Long live Nawaz Sharif," a passenger said.
"After negotiations he accepted an offer to go back and returned in a special plane to Jeddah," a senior government official said.
"He came to the VIP lounge and he was shown the arrest warrants. He was also shown the agreement that he had made with the Saudi government to remain out of the country for 10 years," the official said.
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