Nawaz Sharif had the dazed and numb look of a man who knew he had been beaten. The passion and confidence, which had characterised Pakistan’s former Prime Minister only minutes before, had evaporated.

He seemed unsteady on his feet and shaken by the sudden presence of two burly police commandos, who kept a sweaty grip around his body.

Our paths crossed in a huge scrum that filled the VIP lounge at Islamabad’s international airport yesterday, where Mr Sharif’s hopes of returning to lead his country were disappearing beneath the boots and muscle of the military authorities.

“I am angered by the fabricated case [against me],” he muttered feebly to me, in his last public remarks on his home soil. “I am angered,” he repeated, before a phalanx of dozens of officers – ranging from secret policemen in sunglasses and cheap suits to men who looked as though they moonlighted as bouncers – frogmarched 57-year-old Mr Sharif back on to a plane and into exile once more.

Bhutto was killed by bomb blast

The team from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command have backed the claim that Benazir Bhutto was not shot

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BACKGROUND

• Pakistan in turmoil as ‘martial law’ imposed

• Bhutto escapes as bombers kill 126

• Timeline: Pakistan's period of turmoil

• The man out to oust a President

• Internal crisis gives Pakistan reason for hope

Related Links

• Musharraf pays high price for a little time

If the former leader seemed surprised by the brevity of his return, perhaps he had underestimated the stubbornness of his opponent, Pervez Musharraf, who was still very much in control of Pakistan last night as Mr Sharif began his second term of exile in Saudi Arabia.

No one could accuse Mr Sharif of not planning his return well. Aides had block-booked seats for Mr Sharif, his entourage and dozens of journalists on several flights out of Heathrow in an effort to confuse the authorities.

Once seated in the first-class cabin of a Pakistan International Airlines jet, he seemed energised by the prospect of taking on the general who ousted him eight years before.

“I am not fearful, I am fearless,” he said. Mr Sharif predicted, rightly, that arrest, prison and exile possibly awaited him in Islamabad, but he still believed that his people would “liberate the country from the scourge of military dictatorship”.

In spite of opposition from powerful intermediaries, such as Saudi Arabia, he seemed convinced that the international community, particularly Britain, would support a democratically elected civilian politician over a general who had seized power in a coup.

Had he made it past the airport, Mr Sharif planned a grand return overland to Lahore, his home town and political powerbase in the Punjab, where supporters were preparing a festive welcoming party.

But even before our plane touched down, the omens were not good. Visible from the air were empty streets and clusters of soldiers and policemen who had sealed off Islamabad airport and kept Mr Sharif’s supporters away – in some cases using teargas and batons to disperse crowds. Once on the ground, the stairs from the aircraft were lined by dozens of uniformed policemen. Mr Sharif was persuaded to leave the plane only after two hours of negotiations with a police officer, who promised to escort him unharmed to the VIP lounge.

It was here, amid the comfortable chairs, teas and biscuits that Mr Sharif may have allowed himself to hope that his gambit was about to pay off. Officials were polite; some ground staff cheered when they saw him; his aides spoke confidently of having a celebratory lunch at one of Islamabad’s best restaurants.

But they had been lured into a trap.

The authorities moved clumsily but quickly. Hospitality was swept aside. New charges of corruption were made against Mr Sharif and he was manhandled away. The Pakistani Government claims that he chose a return to exile rather than detention. The tea cups and biscuits were ground underfoot. Aside from a few scuffles and shouted insults, the test of strength was over in seconds.

Outside the terminal building, it was clear that the authorities had left little to chance. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of troops had been drafted in, while Mr Sharif’s supporters had been rounded up and detained “to insure the maintenance of public order”.

But as the opposition licked its wounds last night, it was clear that General Musharraf had also been damaged by the one-sided encounter.

The heavy-handed use of force against his opponent is likely further to undermine public support for a deeply unpopular regime. The Supreme Court had previously ruled that Mr Sharif should be allowed back into the country.

The court has become the most powerful challenge to the authority of the President, who could now be held in contempt for his actions just as he seeks reelection.

General Musharraf may have won yesterday’s battle, but - as many of his own officers will tell him – he may yet lose the war.

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