Pakistan on Sunday stepped up airport security, banned rallies and detained opposition activists a day before former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's planned return to challenge the military ruler who sent him into exile seven years ago. ( AP )
Sharif plans to fly from London to Islamabad on Monday to campaign against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who ousted his elected government in a 1999 coup. It sets up a political showdown that could further shake Musharraf's weakening grip on power and spark unrest.
Sharif, a two-time former premier, has spurned pressure from Saudi Arabia to respect a 2000 agreement under which he allegedly promised to stay away from Pakistan for 10 years. The Supreme Court ruled last month that the Sharifs were free to enter Pakistan.
"I will go back to Pakistan on Sept. 10 with my brother because my country needs me," Sharif said Saturday at a news conference in London. "I am going to lead the people of Pakistan against the dictatorship, and the dictator sitting in Islamabad should give up his futile efforts to stop me."
Analysts say the return of Sharif as Pakistan gears up for presidential and parliamentary elections could upset talks on a power-sharing pact between his archrivals Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, another exiled former premier plotting a political comeback.
Supporters fear he could be arrested. The government has dusted off corruption cases against Sharif, and media reports suggest a "VIP cell" at a 16th-century fortress is being readied. A court last week ordered the arrest in a murder case of his brother Shabhaz Sharif; he has denied the allegation.
After arriving in Islamabad, the Sharifs plan to travel in a grand motorcade to their home and political base in Lahore, about 180 miles to the south - a trip through Punjab province that his party says could take three days as he greets supporters along the way.
More than 2,000 of Sharif's supporters have been detained in a crackdown in over the past four days in Punjab and many others have gone into hiding, said party spokesman Ahsan Iqbal.
Police and security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, confirmed about 700 arrests aimed at maintaining law and order.
Human Rights Watch accused Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in its war on terrorism, of repressing his political opponents and urged the government to release the detainees.
"The government should release arbitrarily detained opposition activists immediately and allow them to peacefully welcome Nawaz Sharif freely and without threat of violence," said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher for the New York-based rights group.
Security has been stepped up at all of Pakistan's major airports after receiving reports about possible terror attacks, two senior intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.
The new security measures came days after the U.S. Embassy warned its citizens to avoid popular markets and crowded areas, saying it had received "non-specific information regarding terrorist attacks, possibly suicide attacks, against U.S. interests or places frequented by Westerners in the major cities in Pakistan."
The government will take action against anyone violating a ban imposed on rallies in Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad where the federal capital's airport is located, said Rawalpindi Mayor Raja Javed Ikhlas.
He said the ban was in response to two suicide bombings in the garrison city on Wednesday that killed 25 people and wounded more than 60 others.
In an unexpected development on Saturday, two foreign envoys - Lebanese lawmaker Saad Hariri and Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - appeared at a news conference outside Musharraf's presidential office saying Sharif should honor the 2000 agreement and not return.
"We are sincerely hoping that his excellency Nawaz Sharif honors that agreement," the Saudi envoy said, adding King Abdullah was concerned about the "unity, stability and prosperity" of Pakistan.
Sharif said Saturday he still planned to return.
He acknowledged that Hariri - the son of assassinated former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri - helped broker his release after his conviction in Pakistan in 2000 on terrorism and hijacking charges with an understanding that he would not return for a decade.
But Sharif claimed that Hariri later told him the period of exile was only five years, though he conceded that was not mentioned in the document he signed.
Musharraf wants to win a new five-year presidential term from lawmakers by mid-October. Both Sharif and Bhutto want to contest general elections due by mid-January 2008.
Musharraf has seen his popularity shrink since his failed attempt to fire the country's top judge earlier this year that spurred calls for an end to military rule. His administration is also struggling to contain a surge in Islamic militancy that has spread from the Afghan border.
Musharraf has been holding talks with Bhutto to reach a deal that could see the bitter rivals share power. But the negotiations appear to have run into opposition from lawmakers on both sides.
Bhutto says she also plans to return to Pakistan, regardless of the outcome of the talks. She is due to announce her date of return on Sept. 14.