Pakistan rounds up opposition supporters

Police manned roadblocks and rounded up supporters of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today as he prepared to end seven years in exile and return to Pakistan to lead a campaign to topple the country’s US-allied military ruler.

The government of President General Pervez Musharraf, who ousted Sharif’s elected government in a 1999 coup, has hinted it may arrest him when he arrives tomorrow, a move that would likely sharpen political tensions ahead of presidential and legislative elections and could trigger street violence.