LAHORE, July 1: The hide-and-seek between police and three women members the Sharif family came to an end on the fifth day on Tuesday as police arrested them from the Model Town residence of Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s brother-in-law, took them to Islamabad and deported them to Saudi Arabia by a flight in the afternoon.

They stayed in Pakistan for about three months quietly. However, the press interviews of Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif and a protest demonstration by the PML-N workers during President Musharraf’s stay in Washington prompted the government to take retaliatory measures, including the deportation of the three women.

The police told the women on Friday to pack up for the kingdom in the next 24 hours. Instead of complying with the instructions, the three escaped, creating a new challenge for the authorities.

The police repeatedly searched Mian Ilyas Meraj’s bungalow during the past few days, but failed to recover the women. Begum Nusrat Shahbaz’s brother, who was in police custody along with Hamza Shahbaz, reportedly could not withstand the pressure and gave the vital information about whereabouts of the women.

It is said that Ilyas Meraj’s parents had advised their son to tell the truth to save the family from growing government pressure and harassment.

It was on his tip-off that the police recovered the three women from 178-H, Model Town.

Hamza Shahbaz and Salman Shahbaz accompanied their mother and sisters to Islamabad to bid them farewell.

The government says that under the December 2000 agreement, the Sharifs cannot come to Pakistan before completing 10 years in exile.

Official sources say that the family of Mian Abbas Sharif will also be sent back to Saudi Arabia. However, they did not give a timeframe.

The PML-N held a protest meeting near Muslim Masjid, Lohari Gate, in the afternoon and condemned the “illegal act” of deportation.

Party leaders Zulfikar Khosa, Khwaja Saad Rafiq, Inamullah Khan Niazi, Pir Binyamin, Zakia Shahnawaz, Naseer Bhutta and others said the government was afraid of an unarmed woman.

Slogans were raised against President Musharraf but in favour of Mian Nawaz Sharif and Mian Shahbaz Sharif. The participants also reiterated their rejection of the LFO.

Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadith Amir Prof Sajid Mir and Lahore High Court Bar President Hafiz Abdur Rehman Ansari also condemned the deportation of the three women.

The wife of former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif along with her two daughters and a house-maid were deported to Saudi Arabia in a Saudi Airlines flight SV-741, which took off at 5.20pm, Our Staff Reporter Mohammad Asghar adds from Islamabad.

Ms Nusrat Shahbaz and her two daughters, Rabia Shahbaz and Javaria Shahbaz, and house-maid Hajira Bibi were brought to Islamabad from Lahore through the Motorway in three vehicles.

They were driven straight to Islamabad airport at around 2.40pm, where the arrangements for their deportation were already in place.

Earlier before departure Ms Javaria Shahbaz said: “We are Pakistani citizens and are being sent to Saudi Arabia against our will.”

Mr Hamza Shahbaz and Mr Suleman Shahbaz, the two sons of Mr Shahbaz Sharif, who were also present at Rawal Lounge when their mother and sisters were being deported — watched them helplessly.

Mr Hamza told reporters: “We have not committed any crime, but even then we are being harassed by the government.”

While talking to reporters Mr Hamza deplored police raids on their residences in Lahore and termed it a violation of human rights.