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| 11 May 2004 | Tuesday | 20 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425 |
Shahbaz boards plane at Heathrow
LAHORE, May 10: PML-N president Mian Shahbaz Sharif boarded a commercial flight at London's Heathrow airport on Monday evening on his way to Lahore, a party official announced here. Barring some last-minute development, he will land at the Lahore airport on Tuesday afternoon
, "prepared to face the consequences" of his initiative the government thinks is violative of an agreement under which the Sharif's family was exiled to Saudi Arabia.
The PML-N leader took a UAE-bound flight. After a few hours stay in the United Arab Emirates, he will board another plane which will land at Lahore at about 6pm. ARD chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Punjab PPP president Qasim Zia, who are in the UAE for consultations with Ms Benazir Bhutto, are trying to get seats in the same flight to be able to accompany the former chief minister to the Punjab capital, according to PPP leader Naveed Chaudhry.
A large number of PML-N leaders and workers have been arrested in Lahore and other cities of Punjab and many others have gone underground. According to a party press release, the PML-N secretariat in New Garden Town has been taken over by police and its both telephone lines have been severed.
However, party leaders are busy making preparations to receive their leader, who was exiled along with 17 other members of the Sharif family some 40 months back. They plan to take out a procession from Nila Gumbad, defying a ban on procession imposed by the district government. Some party leaders, including chairman Raja Zafarul Haq, have reached Lahore to lead the procession.
According to observers here, two options are under consideration of the government - arrest Mian Shahbaz or to deport him to Saudi Arabia - and the PML-N leader appears to be prepared to face either of this although he insists that after the Supreme Court judgment the government cannot take such a step.
POLICE DEPLOYMENT: The provincial government has deployed police on all entry points of the city. PPP MPA Samiullah Khan was intercepted on the Ravi bridge on Monday and was told to go back.
AIRPORT: The FIA is reported to have decided to depute more staff at the Lahore Airport. The ASF issued special passes for the FIA, Customs and CAA staff to perform their duty on Tuesday.
Mohammad Asghar adds from Rawalpindi: Elite force and police were deployed around Islamabad airport after midnight following reports that Mian Shahbaz might land there on early Tuesday, official source told Dawn.
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