Pakistan braced for a dramatic but tempestuous return of exiled premier Nawaz Sharif with both the government and the Sharif camp keeping under wraps their strategies for the day amid reports he may be arrested on arrival and later deported to Saudi Arabia.
Sharif’s spokesman announced in London he would leave late after midnight Pakistan standard time on Monday by Gulf Air for Muscat on way to Islamabad. But officials here believed it might be a deceptive plan as Sharif was earlier reported to have booked seats in five different airlines.
The government seems determined to disrupt exiled premier’s arrival schedule and block public reception planned by his PML-N and other opposition at the Islamabad airport on Monday afternoon. Apart from a massive crackdown on party leaders and activists in Punjab arresting hundreds of them, steps have been taken to obstruct crowds trying to reach the airport.
The authorities have virtually blocked all routes leading to the Islamabad airport and will reportedly seal the entire area of about 5 km radius around the airport after midnight. Barbed wire barriers have already been erected on roads leading to the airport restricting movement to only genuine travellers. About 1,000 policemen have been deployed in the area.
Entry points to Rawalpindi and Islamabad from other major towns are being closely watched and Section 144 has been imposed to ban rallies and assembly of more than four persons. Big containers are ready near Attock Bridge connecting the NWFP with Punjab from where large crowds are expected.
Top opposition leaders heading parties united in the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) have converged on Islamabad to receive Nawaz Sharif at the airport. They gathered at the office of the PML-N here on Sunday to express solidarity with Nawaz and condemned the government for attempting to disrupt his reception.
The meeting also deliberated on a proposal to move the Supreme Court on Monday morning for an order restraining the government to put hurdles in the public reception and stop
the government from deporting Sharif on arrival.
PML-N information secretary Ahsan Iqbal later told newsmen that there was consensus in the meeting that the government’s efforts would be resisted with the support of the people. He said the reception would be peaceful but warned that the government would be responsible for any consequences if it tried to block it.
Media reports said a Saudi plan was on way to fly Sharif when he reaches here. But opposition leaders expressed the hope that Saudi Arabia being very close friend of Pakistan would not take sides in the internal politics of Pakistan.
Nawaz Sharif has spurned advice from the Kingdom to shelve his plans to return to Pakistan in honour of his undertaking he signed in an agreement brokered by Saudi Arabia in December 2000 to secure his release from prison in return for promise to live in exile for 10 years. King Abdullah’s emissary and intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz in an unprecedented news conference here on Saturday after three-hour meeting with President Musharraf urged Sharif to stick to his pledge for the sake of stability and peace of the country.
Nawaz responded from London saying the actual undertaking was for five years and he was determined to take all risks and come to Pakistan to confront Musharraf whom he asked to step down.
