Scrum at airport surrounding Sharif

Music

00:00

PETER LLOYD: Welcome to Islamabad International Airport. Former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif is coming home from exile. Soldiers, police and government agents are sent to intercept him.

00:11

Lloyd in middle of media scrum

PETER LLOYD: At the moment I've got the hands of five Pakistani policemen pulling me out of the crowd.

00:24

PETER LLOYD: Just four hours after touching down, Sharif is being silenced.

00:39

London shots

PETER LLOYD: Seven days earlier we were in London. The up market Mayfair district in the heart of the city boasts some of the most costly real estate in the world. Owned by some of the world's richest people.

00:55

Lloyd walks with Sharif in Mayfair

And Nawaz Sharif is one of them. I caught up with him outside his plush apartment.

NAWAZ SHARIF: London is a very pleasant city, I think one of the best cities in the world.

PETER LLOYD: Money isn't a problem for Nawaz Sharif. He comes from a wealthy industrial family.

NAWAZ SHARIF: My children studied here,

01:12

they came for their higher studies in Britain.

01:37

PETER LLOYD: London's also a great deal more comfortable than Saudi Arabia, where he was exiled in 1999 after being ousted by a military coup led by, then General, now President Pervez Musharraf. Time out, it seems, has mellowed a man once renowned as a political bully.

01:41

NAWAZ SHARIF: Nobody is an angel, we all make mistakes, so whatever mistakes we have made in the past there is a lesson to learn.

Musharraf file footage

PETER LLOYD: One of those mistakes may have been signing a deal with this man the current leader of Pakistan, General Musharraf.

02:01

Musharraf claims Sharif promised to stay out of Pakistan for ten years. But recently the Supreme Court ruled that was unconstitutional, and said Sharif was free to return home, infuriating the General.

02:25

Sharif in office being filmed

Ever since he's been courting the Pakistan media, attacking the man who robbed him of power President Musharraf.

NAWAZ SHARIF: He doesn't somehow believe in the rule of law,

02:41

he doesn't have any respect for the constitution. He doesn't show any respect to the law of the land.

02:53

PETER LLOYD: In office, Sharif was labelled an autocrat. He was dogged by allegations of corruption and misrule. But from exile,  Nawaz Sharif has re-packaged himself as a champion of democracy.

03:01

NAWAZ SHARIF: I have no personal motives, I have no personal ambitions.  My ambition and my motive is only Pakistan democracy, rule of law.

03:14

Hussain

ZAHID HUSSAIN: Well actually he was very authoritarian during his government. He was more authoritarian than even the military government.

03:24

PETER LLOYD: Commentator and writer Zahid Hussain remembers the old Sharif all too well.

03:31

ZAHID HUSSAIN: When he was in power, we have all seen, that he took confrontation with the judiciary. He basically also arrested journalists, he did try to crack down on the press, and also actually he was ruthless with his own party men.

03:38

Sharif press interview

PETER LLOYD: At 57, Political rhetoric isn't all that seems to have changed about Nawaz Sharif.  Once grey and nearly bald, he now sports a head of dark hair. A fact that didn't escape one cheeky interviewer.

03:57

INTERVIEWER: Exile has done you wonders. You look thinner and younger than you ever did. I think when you go back to Pakistan they will think you are a film star rather than a politician.

04:11

Sharif with MPs

PETER LLOYD: Nawaz Sharif has been doing more than the media round in London. He's been courting MPs from General Musharraf's party. Shahzadi Tiwana is defecting to Sharif's party. It's a numbers game for control of Parliament, soon to be asked to rubber stamp Musharraf to another term as President. That's despite polls that show Osama Bin Laden is more popular in Pakistan than Musharraf.

04:23

Tiwana. Super: Shahzadi Tiwana Pakistani MP

SHAHZADI TIWANA: It's very premature as yet to say how many will defect or are thinking about it.

04:50

Tiwana at café with Lloyd

Only a few political people who think they can win their seats with power of the uniform will stay. The rest will leave.

04:57

PETER LLOYD: Shahzadi is being portrayed by the regime as a rat in the ranks.

05:10

SHAHZADI TIWANA: I don't think it is fair to call anyone a traitor or use such strong words because one has to decide what is good for the country now.

05:15

PETER LLOYD: What do you think is good for the country right now?

05:26

SHAHZADI TIWANA: Ah, it's always been and it always will be a democratic form of government and this is the need for our country this is what is needed now.

05:29

Crush at Heathrow

PETER LLOYD: At Heathrow a crush of well wishers.  It's a rowdy farewell, triggering a security panic. 

OFFICIAL: Go back you are squashing people!

05:53

PETER LLOYD: The former Prime Minister is booked on five different flights to confuse the regime about his arrival time.

06:07

The drama is reminiscent of 1999 when Sharif refused to allow a plane carrying General Musharraf to land in Karachi, triggering the coup.

06:16

Sharif boarding plane

In a twist, Nawaz Sharif finally boards a government plane. Pakistan International Airlines. It's military-run. But the mayhem isn't over.

06:27

On board plane

A passenger collapses in the aisle, claiming to be having a heart attack. Take-off is delayed for more than one hour. Once airborne,

06:38

Nawaz Sharif settles back and prays. Until now he's been calling the shots. But in seven  hours, someone else will decide his fate.

06:48

Lloyd and Sharif on plane. Super: Nawaz Sharif
Former Prime Minister, Pakistan

NAWAZ SHARIF: Well yes, I don't know what will happen to me when I land at Islamabad. But then, more importantly, where is my country heading to?

07:00

PETER LLOYD: How much are you personally willing to sacrifice in this fight?

07:12

NAWAZ SHARIF: Well if Musharraf wants to send me to the jail and -- or in the prison -- and in return my country gets liberated from dictatorial army rule, that is not a big price.

07:19

Sharif gives interview on board plane

PETER LLOYD: His calculation is less prosaic than it seems. Political martyrdom, he hopes, will win more attention than he's had in exile.

07:39

ANNOUNCEMENT: Cabin crew stations for landing.

07:50

PETER LLOYD: Moments from touchdown, a final ruse. Nawaz Sharif moves to the economy cabin, taking up position in the middle of the aircraft. Everyone aboard has just become a human shield.

07:52

Plane commences landing

ANNOUNCEMENT: Please take your seats.  Sit down. Sit down anywhere!! Sit down.

08:06

Musharraf supporters on plane

CHANT: Go Musharraf, go Musharraf.

08:13

PETER LLOYD: It's feared the plane wouldn't get  permission to land. Touching down is the first hurdle. But Sharif smells a trap. He refuses to budge. As the aircraft is surrounded.

08:17

Lloyd to camera. Super:  
Peter Lloyd

So a strange situation has developed on board the plane. The aircraft is surrounded by several hundred or so paramilitaries and police toting shotguns and sub machine guns.

08:30

Firstly, there was a dispute on board about passports. They wanted Nawaz Sharif to surrender his passport and they could process him off the plane. He refused. Now there is a dispute about bus transport and as I speak, there are more police coming on board behind me.

08:45

Police board plane

PETER LLOYD: Are you going to allow Mr Sharif off the plane?

SOLDIER: Yeah I have come to request him off-board.

PETER LLOYD: Is he free to move around?

SOLDIER:  Sir, you are awaited. Off board sir.  You can see the bus.

09:00

Sharif waves

PETER LLOYD: 90 minutes after landing, Nawaz Sharif finally touches Pakistani soil for the first time in seven years.

09:14

Arrivals hall

In the chaotic arrival hall, the authorities make their move.

09:22

GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL: I'm here to serve the warrant of arrest to Mr Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

09:28

Government reps grab Sharif

PETER LLOYD: With that declaration, government thugs grab Pervez Musharraf's arch rival. It was a chilling display of brute force. Nawaz Sharif is shoved out a door, and taken to a waiting plane, destination Saudi Arabia. The regime insists there was no coercion.

09:37

Durrani interview

PETER LLOYD: This is Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani.

09:57

MUHAMMAD ALI DURRANI: When he came here, there were options for him. To stay here, or to go again.

10:01

PETER LLOYD: So the option was stay here in jail, or go?

10:07

Super:  Muhammad Ali Durrani Information Minister, Pakistan

MUHAMMAD ALI DURRANI: Or go. He opted for going there. This is the reports we received here.

10:09

PETER LLOYD: So the option you gave him was to go to prison or leave the country?

10:14

MUHAMMAD ALI DURRANI: Yeah of course.

10:17

Saudi airport

PETER LLOYD: Back in exile, in Saudi Arabia, Sharif is politically isolated.

10:18

Hussain

ZAHID HUSSAIN: It seems that he is a prisoner at this point. He is under restriction. I would not say that he is detained formally but I think that he is being restricted from going out of his house and he will not be allowed to travel abroad from London I think, until the elections in Pakistan are over.

10:23

Pakistan Supreme Court exterior

PETER LLOYD: At the moment the only semblance of opposition to the regime seems to be coming from people inside this building, the Supreme Court.

10:42

Lloyd to camera

It was these judges who said that Nawaz Sharif could come home and they may still rule that in banishing him last week, Pervez Musharraf committed a gross contempt of Court. At the same time, a far bigger issue is being weighed here. That's the one about whether it's even legal for Pervez Musharraf to run for President while he is still the Armed Forces chief.

10:51

Pakistan Supreme Court exterior

The regime seems desperate to pacify the judges. At the weekend it was announced that Pervez Musharraf will quit the Army once re-elected.

11:14

Aziz. Super: Shaukat Aziz Prime Minister, Pakistan

SHAUKAT AZIZ: The President's position as army chief will stay only til the period he is allowed to under the law.

11:23

PETER LLOYD:  So you're saying, unequivocally, that by the end of this year Pervez Musharraf will not be the head of the armed forces?

11:29

SHAUKAT AZIZ: I think that's what it means. Yeah.

11:35

Musharraf arrival

PETER LLOYD:  The trouble with that pledge is that Pervez Musharraf has made it before, only to renege. If he does go ahead this time, it would be a courageous step. It means surrendering his only real constituency: the military. And as Pakistan's history shows, without that, few leaders can survive.

11:38

12:10

Credits:

Reporter: Peter Lloyd

Camera: Wayne McAllister

Editor: Wayne McAllister

             Garth Thomas