Musharraf under fire for expulsion of Sharif

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf came under fire today for the ejection of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, with newspapers dismissing the Pakistan government’s claim that he returned willingly to exile.

Sharif flew in to Islamabad from London on Monday to challenge the already troubled re-election plans of Musharraf, who toppled his government in a 1999 bloodless coup.

Authorities halted him at the terminal and he left a few hours later for Saudi Arabia.

Sharif had said he was ready to risk jail by coming home. But officials claimed yesterday that when they offered him a choice between arrest on corruption charges or exile, he chose the latter.

“No one is going to quite buy this argument,” the Lahore-based Nation newspaper wrote today.

“For him to come to Pakistan only to be jetted to Saudi Arabia makes no sense. It is clear that he was sent against his will.”

The manner of Sharif’s departure is already the subject of a complaint to the Supreme Court from the two-time ex-premier’s supporters.

The court, which is emerging as the main threat to Musharraf’s hold on power, ruled last month that Sharif had an “inalienable” right to enter his homeland.