In a dramatic development today, former prime minister and exiled PML(N) leader Nawaz Sharif has been deported to Saudi Arabia. Sharif, who announced his return to Pakistan earlier this month after seven years of exile, was sent back to Saudi Arabia just few hours after his arrival in Pakistan.
He spent around 4 hours at airport, negotiating with Saudi and Pakistani officials. Deportation was certainly one of the options that Government of Pakistan had but not many analysts believed that they would actually go ahead with it. Till the last minute, it appeared from electronic media coverage of the event that Nawaz Sharif will be arrested and jailed and even the arrest warrants were produced and charges were handed over to Nawaz Sharif. We saw visuals of his arrest in which he was man-handled by police officials. But then we heard in a dramatic manner that he is being sent back to Saudi Arabia in a special PIA flight. Now we will see another legal battle if this action is a contempt of Supreme Court of Pakistan’s verdict on Nawaz Sharif’s return in August.
Geo website has this report on the event:
Former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif was sent back into exile Monday. According to reports he has been sent to Saudi Arabia in a special airplane. Earlier, the flight of former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif was landed at Islamabad Airport at the scheduled time of 8:42 am Monday morning. The military and security forces troops were deployed at Islamabad airport. In Islamabad, Police and PML-N workers were engaged in hide and seek and scuffles at various places.
Media men were restricted to parking lot of the airport as the airplane of former prime minister landed at the airport. The interior ministry officials and other top officials of the government were present at the airport on the occasion. Mian Nawaz Sharif traveled in the Club Class from London to Islamabad and before landing at Islamabad he went to the economy class to join the party workers.
Geo News correspondent Azhar Javed who was accompanied with Nawaz Sharif in air journey to Islamabad reported that Muslim League workers surrounded their leader and chanted slogans. Mian Nawaz Sharif later taken out of the airplane from backdoor. A flying coach was parked near the plane, which was cordoned off by the police commandoes, Azhar Javed reported. The former prime minister left the plane after 90 minutes and held talks with the government of Pakistan officials and Saudi government representatives. The matter of his returning back into exile to Saudi Arabia was also discussed but Nawaz Sharif opted to be arrested at home instead of going back into exile.
Later he was detained and sent back to Jeddah by a special airplane.
This entire episode raises many questions in the minds of ordinary Pakistanis. Is this violation of SC order? Why didn’t government just arrest him and put him on trial, if there are any cases against him? What will happen now in court and does this mean that government is going ahead with direct confrontation with superior courts? And what it would mean to already growing confrontation between Army and the civil society? We really don’t know. All we can hope, as an ordinary Pakistani, that may Allah have mercy on Pakistan. I am NO fan of Nawaz, Benazir or most of our politicians because of their past performances but I would rather see people of Pakistan deciding their fate through power of ballet and vote and NOT some individuals sitting in President’s House making decisions. I do not see anything good coming out today’s actions and I think its a big setback to rule of law.
One of ATP reader, Saleem A. Taimoor, made a very valid and appropriate comment on my earlier post on Nawaz Sharif return and I personally share his views. Situation in Pakistan today concludes following:
1. Army has been put in direct confrontation with the civil society.
2. People hate to see green lawns and swimming pools inside the army cantonments as well Mercedes for generals on the streets; where over 40% of the people can’t have one day meal, this new elite is eating up all resources – look at the Defense Housing Authorities, posh livnig styles of the army officers and their families, best schools and hospitals run at Income tax payers money; hate has gone deep within the masses for the army not for the general alone. Musharraf has pulled the army in this quagmire.
3. Tens (if not hundreds) of soldiers have died in armed clashes with civilians and in bomb blasts.
4. Media and the judiciary are being put to test with oppressive measures.
5. Government is ready to take on the judiciary now (starting with today’s deportation of Nawaz). Executive is not ready to obey the judiciary.
6. Youth is getting disconnected with Pakistan – all running around for safe havens abroad or for grabbing too much money to join the elite – the social fabric is quickly disintegrating.
7. The parliament is full of people who are unable to comprehend the social disintegration we are going through.
I am sure there are thousands of others who share the same views. Whether you like or dislike Nawaz Sharif or Benazir, both of them should be free to return to this country and allowed to face any charges against them. It is the people of Pakistan who should decide who they want to elect as their representatives and not some army generals who decide our fate in the name of national security. We want Pakistan to be a Social Welfare State and which was the dream of its founding fathers and NOT a National Security State which, unfortunately, it has become now.
As Adnan Siddiqi rightly pointed out in his blog post, there is a sad and brutal side of this story too. Nawaz Sharif landed, arrested and deported. Musharraf stayed in his office while Nawaz either stayed in plane or in lounge then forced to go back to Saudia. All were having fun time. Who suffered then?See yourself?
May Allah have mercy on Pakistan and its 160 million citizens and give our rulers wisdom to make the right decisions. Ameen.
This is what Shujaat Gujjar said today
Answering a question, he said Kulsoom Nawaz should be allowed to return if she wanted to.
Last time he said the same thing about NS. Since we should take a contrarian view of what he says, it means that she would be deported too. Let’s see what happens here.
Salman, you’re right. Khar travelled to Islamabad with NS.
The media has certainly become a bit more cautious in criticizing ‘mush’ after Nawaz’s kidnapping to saudi.
Maybe one of the reason is what was reported on Sep. 10 that UAE government has pressured channels based there (Geo and ARY) to minimize Nawaz’s coverage and go soft on ‘mush’ otherwise they risked being kicked out of UAE.
Seems like all the US lackeys in the region have combined to save the skin of a ‘brother’ dictator.
Can somebody comment on the fact that the gentleman sitting next to NS looks like Ghulam Mustafa Khar? Or am I mistaken?
Thank you,
Salman
PatExpat, I did not exactly mention what Rasul Baksh Palejo (RBP) said last night in Capital Talk. For those of you who haven’t seen him, he is perhaps in his 70s, diminutive guy, but fiery in his speech. He said that in the 60 years of Pak history, this is the most fascist regime that he has seen, and he has seen them all. How they cut off Rawalpinid and ISB from the rest of the world on sep 10th, is a testament to their ways. Also amazing is the fact how they keep endorsing MQM ways, by letting those thugs run amok with whatever they want to do.