PAKISTAN:The former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif was back in exile in Saudi Arabia last night after a dramatic airport showdown in Pakistan that bruised his hopes of ousting president Pervez Musharraf.
Mr Sharif was arrested, charged with corruption and put on a flight to Jeddah just four hours after landing in Islamabad on a scheduled flight from London.
The runway drama was a blow to Mr Sharif, who has been in exile since 2000. But it also damaged the credibility of his nemesis Gen Musharraf, who is battling to stay in power beyond November 15th, the date when his term of office ends.
Mr Sharif's supporters said they would immediately appeal against the deportation to Pakistan's supreme court, which ruled on August 23rd that the exiled politician had an "inalienable" right of return. The case may be heard today.
"This will be counted as the blackest day in Pakistan's history," Mr Sharif's brother Shahbaz told Geo television from London. "I do not have words to describe my grief."
The interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao, said the deportation was "in accordance with law and ethics", although Gen Musharraf's spokesman, Rashid Qureshi, said the action had "nothing to do with the presidency".
The European Union said Gen Musharraf should have respected the court ruling. In Washington, a state department spokesman was less critical, calling it a "pending legal matter".
Gen Musharraf was never going to make it easy for Mr Sharif, who has regularly denounced the president as a "dictator".
From Sunday evening, officials sealed the airport road, jammed mobile phone signals and arrested hundreds of Mr Sharif's supporters. A former president of Pakistan, Rafiq Tarar, was among those roughed up. As Mr Sharif's flight pulled up outside the half-deserted terminal yesterday, commandos swarmed around the stairway. A helicopter waited nearby, its rotors turning. An immigration official boarded the plane but Mr Sharif refused to hand over his passport.
After a 90-minute standoff he moved to a VIP area, where he was presented with corruption charges, fuelling speculation he would be arrested and imprisoned. They included an accusation that Mr Sharif pocketed $21.2 million from the sale of a sugar mill business during his time in power. But shortly afterwards the commandos hustled Mr Sharif back onto the runway and into a waiting plane to be flown straight to Saudi Arabia.
Human rights groups protested against the role of Saudi Arabia, which on Saturday sent its intelligence chief, Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, to admonish Mr Sharif.
"Saudi Arabia has made itself party to the kidnapping of a Pakistani citizen in broad daylight and has flouted international law," said Ali Dayan Hasan, of Human Rights Watch.
On the flight to Islamabad Mr Sharif had moved from business to economy class, where he offered prayers among supporters.
"It's a great feeling to be home," he said, after stepping on Pakistani soil. A few hours later he was deported.