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Sharif, who commands a loyal following in Punjab, the country’s biggest province, plans to challenge Pervez Musharraf, the current president, who toppled him from power eight years ago.

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Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s former prime minister, has left London to return to Islamabad after a seven-year exile, vowing to regain the leadership of the country.

Sharif, who commands a loyal following in Punjab, the country’s biggest province, plans to challenge Pervez Musharraf, the current president, who toppled him from power eight years ago.

British police escorted Sharif through a crowd of supporters before he boarded a Pakistan International Airlines flight on Sunday.

Thousands of supporters were reportedly detained by security forces in Pakistan on the eve of his arrival.

Procession planned

Sharif had insisted he would return on Monday despite calls for him to stay in exile from officials in Saudi Arabia and Saad Hariri, a Lebanese member of parliament.

“I’m feeling great,” Sharif said as he boarded his flight at London’s Heathrow airport.

“I have a duty, I have a responsibility, I have a national obligation to fulfil at all costs and that is democracy.”

After landing in Islamabad, Sharif plans to lead a procession to his political power base in the city of Lahore, 300km away.

Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in the capital of Punjab province, said security forces had prevented Sharif’s supporters entering of leaving the city on Sunday.

Supporters held

Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for Sharif, said on Sunday that authorities had detained more than 2,000 activists from his party in Punjab.

“The way the government has acted has proven our point that there is no democracy under Musharraf, there is dictatorship in the country,” he said.

“Politically, they are very scared of a big show of popularity upon his arrival,” Iqbal said.

A provincial police official said 250 “trouble makers” had been detained.

“Security is at high alert and tomorrow visitors won’t be allowed in, only people with confirmed tickets,” a security official told the Reuters news agency.

Treason charges

Sharif was sentenced to life in prison on treason charges but released on condition that he live in exile for 10 years.

There are suggestions that on arrival in Pakistan both he and his brother, Shahbaz, could be re-arrested on corruption charges.

Media reports have said a “VIP cell” at a 16th-century fortress is being prepared for Sharif.

A court in Lahore issued an arrest warrant on Friday for Shahbaz, who is also returning from exile, in connection with a murder case.

The supreme court ruled last month that Sharif had the right to return and the government should not try to stop him.

Nadir Chaudhri, another spokesman for the former prime minister, said he was planning to take part in elections due in the coming months.

‘Growing support’

“His plan is to go back to play his role in Pakistani politics, which is his right,” Chaudhri said.

“He’s head of his own party. Elections are coming up. He will mobilise his party for those elections.”

Public support for Sharif appears to be growing and he could become a potential obstacle to a power-sharing deal that Musharraf is discussing with Benazir Bhutto, also a former prime minister, that could see her return and the president quit as head of the army.

Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief, had previously called on Sharif to honour the terms of a Saudi-brokered deal which sent him into exile seven years ago.

“Nawaz Sharif should respect his commitment to the most revered Muslim country [Saudi Arabia] and its leadership and complete 10 years in exile,” Muhammad Ali Durrani, Pakistan’s information minister, said.aljazeera

, Voice of a Nation

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