Nawaz tricked, will return myself to challenge Musharraf:wife

Islamabad, Sept 11 (UNI) Throwing a fresh challenge to the Musharraf regime after her husband and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was yesterday deported from the country a few hours after his return, his wife claimed he was tricked into boarding the flight and vowed to return herself to confront the 'military dictatorship.' Kulsoom Nawaz said her her husband had told her, after arriving in Jeddah, that security personnel made him sit in the plane by saying that he was being taken to Karachi, but instead flown him to the Saudi port city, private TV channel Geo TV reported.

''When my husband arrived in Pakistan, the security officials showed him the arrest warrant and informed him that he would be flown to Karachi and produced in a court there.

While on board plane during the flight, on his query, he was told that he is being taken to Jeddah, not Karachi, she added.

Kulsoom, who is still in London, announced that she would return home and challenge President Pervez Musharraf.

''I will return to Pakistan in a few days and see who dare stops me,'' she told the channel, adding her husband's deportation has ''exposed the dictatorship.'' Meanwhile, the former Prime Minister's brother and former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who was due to accompany him but directed to stay back at the eleventh hour, said that his brother Nawaz Sharif was ''kidnapped'' and sent to Saudi Arabia but he would try to return to Pakistan again.

''Those who kidnapped Nawaz Sharif and sent him out of the country are grossly mistaken. Nawaz Sharif will be back in Pakistan soon,'' he told Geo TV.

''Once again the government has ripped apart the sanctity of the judiciary,'' he added.

However, an official spokesman said Mr Sharif was offered to be sent to Saudi Arabia on his arrival at the Islamabad International Airport.

''Before being taken into detention, Nawaz Sharif was offered an opportunity to return to Saudi Arabia, in line with the terms of his agreement with the Saudi Arabian government,'' the spokesman said, the channel reported.

''A special flight then flew out of Islamabad, taking Nawaz Sharif to Saudi Arabia,'' he added.

The spokesman said on his arrival in Pakistan from London, Sharif was brought to the lounge to be processed through the arrival formalities. The former Prime Minister was also served with a warrant based on a case under the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

UNI