By IANS
Islamabad : Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif was arrested at the Islamabad airport Monday as he returned home after almost seven years in exile, sparking clashes between his supporters and the police.
High drama marked the arrest, which occurred almost three-and-a-half hours after the aircraft on which he had arrived from London had landed.
TV news channels showed pictures of Sharif being handed over what seemed to be an arrest warrant before being whisked away.
There was, however, uncertainty over his fate with reports that he could be jailed in Rawalpindi, Lahore or Attock, though unconfirmed reports said he was taken to Mianwali in Punjab province.
One report said Sharif was offered the option of being deported but instead chose to be arrested.
Speaking to reporters who had accompanied him from London, Sharif said he did not know what lay in store for him.
“I am told that there are helicopters and aircraft here in which I will be taken away. I have not been told anything,” he maintained.
“There is no way I have of communicating with the outside world as all the phones have been jammed,” he added.
The Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 777 bringing Sharif and his entourage from London landed here at 8.45 a.m. and while the other passengers immediately disembarked, the former prime minister stayed on board for almost two hours. He was thereafter escorted to the airport’s VIP lounge.
DPA adds: Tear gas and baton charges were used to disperse processions of workers of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and other opposition parties and lawyer’s associations who tried to approach the airport, which security forces sealed off early Monday.
Several people were reportedly injured on the streets of Islamabad’s connecting twin city of Rawalpindi, where demonstrators pelted police with stones.
No media personnel were allowed near the airport although several television channels accompanying the former premier showed the arrival of the Pakistan International Airlines flight that brought Sharif and his entourage from London.
“I am very happy to be here in my homeland, and I’m ready to face any situation,” Sharif told the accompanying group of reporters after the plane landed, the Geo news channel said.
Sharif has vowed to restore civilian democracy in Pakistan and resist military rule under President Pervez Musharraf, an army general who ousted him in a bloodless coup in 1999.
“I have a duty, I have a responsibility, I have a national obligation to fulfil at all costs, and that is democracy,” he said earlier.
Musharraf, who is preparing to seek a further five-year mandate from parliament around Oct 15, had urged Sharif not to come back, saying it would destabilize the country.
The government has also threatened to reactivate charges against him. Sharif was sentenced to life imprisonment for treason, hijacking, tax evasion and corruption but was sent into exile in Saudi Arabia for 10 years in late 2000.
If he had not been detained, Sharif had planned to drive in a slow-moving motorcade to his home city and power base of Lahore.
Meanwhile, authorities launched a massive crackdown on the workers of the PML-N and allied political parties. According to party officials, more than 4,000 of their workers were arrested in recent days.
Many senior opposition leaders and parliamentarians were placed under house arrest overnight before Sharif’s arrival while security forces sealed off entry points into Islamabad and the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Large containers were also dumped on highways from Lahore and Peshawar to block traffic.
Cellular phone-jamming equipment was installed at the airport, preventing television reporters from giving live coverage of Sharif’s arrival.
The government had earlier threatened to arrest Sharif on his return and deport him to Saudi Arabia so that he could complete his exile.
“We are considering three options: letting him go to Lahore, arresting him or sending him in another plane to Saudi Arabia,” Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani had told the Geo news channel.
Speaking to Dawn television minutes before the ex-premier’s arrival, Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid also said he might be deported but that such a step could be construed as contempt of court after the Supreme Court ruled last month that Sharif could return home unimpeded.
Sharif, who served twice as prime minister from 1990 to 1999, claimed he never agreed to a 10-year exile and that he was given a verbal assurance he could return after five years.