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Pakistan ex-leader's return is short-lived

Sharif is deported to Saudi Arabia soon after arriving from London.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 11, 2007

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - After seven years in exile, former Prime Minister Nawar Sharif's homecoming lasted just four tense hours.

"Thank God, we have reached our land," he declared as supporters accompanying him on a jetliner from London chanted slogans against the military government of President Pervez Musharraf and cheered the arrival in Islamabad.

But the mood quickly dampened. Police commandos in black uniforms ringed the jet, sharpshooters took up positions on buildings overlooking the tarmac and those on board found their cell phones did not work because the government was jamming the networks.

Sharif was escorted to the international airport's VIP lounge, where staff served tea and cakes. As Sharif drained his cup, an anticorruption investigator delivered an arrest warrant. Police then put him on a plane to Saudi Arabia, the country where he had been banished after his ouster in a 1999 bloodless coup led by Musharraf, who is also the leader of Pakistan's army.

While Musharraf shunted off a bitter rival who hoped to make a political comeback and challenge his rule, the move was likely to deepen the president's growing unpopularity going into presidential and legislative elections.

"Musharraf has probably taken a decision to twist any law to do what he can do to stay in power. This is the politics of survival," said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, a political scientist at Lahore University of Management Sciences. "He is relying on strong-arm tactics, not the law and the constitution."

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the deportation "runs contrary to the Supreme Court decision." But he declined to comment further, saying the "matter is still under legal consideration."

Sharif's party appealed the deportation to the Supreme Court, which has issued a series of rulings challenging Musharraf's dominance since his failed attempt in March to oust the court's top judge ignited protests demanding democracy and civilian rule.

The president is also struggling against Islamic extremism that has spread from the Afghan border region, where pro-Taliban militants are gaining sway and al-Qaida is feared to have regrouped.

"Pakistan is entering a period of great instability," said Talat Masood, a retired general and political analyst who predicted Sharif's deportation would cause more unrest. "This will agitate those people who are trying to fight for the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary and wanting the army to go back to the barracks."

Clashes broke out Monday between security forces and Sharif supporters who attempted to greet him at the airport.

Police blockaded roads with trucks, tractors and barbed wire. They fired tear gas and Sharif supporters threw rocks in at least two locations near Islamabad and a bridge on the main highway leading to the capital from Pakistan's northwest frontier. Several people were injured at each clash.

Protests were called for today, and a hard-line Islamic coalition allied with Sharif said it would join the demonstrations.

"This is an insult to our judiciary. This is a joke played on democracy and the constitution of Pakistan," said Ameer ul-Azeem, the coalition spokesman.

The opposition party led by Benazir Bhutto, another exiled former prime minister with ambitions to return for parliamentary elections, adopted a neutral stance.

Her Pakistan People's Party said the Supreme Court "rightly ruled" that Sharif had a right to return home but added that his reported 1999 agreement to avoid corruption charges by going into exile for a decade was a matter between him, those who helped broker the deal and Pakistan's courts. An investigator said Sharif was accused of laundering $21.2-million.

Sharif was put on a flight to Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, and witnesses said he left that airport in a motorcade with sirens blaring.

[Last modified September 11, 2007, 01:15:48]