Lawyers for Nawaz Sharif, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, have filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging his dramatic deportation to Saudi Arabia yesterday.

They argued that President Musharraf of Pakistan had defied an earlier court ruling by deporting Mr Sharif hours after he returned from seven years’ exile to try to restore democratic rule.

The petition sets the stage for another confrontation between the court and General Musharraf, who is already facing his biggest political crisis since he deposed Mr Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999.

It also threatens to embarrass the United States just as John Negroponte, the US Deputy Secretary of State, heads to Pakistan to meet General Musharraf, a key ally in the War on Terror, tomorrow.

The court ruled last month that Mr Sharif, who was given a life sentence and first sent into exile in Saudi Arabia in 2000, had an “inalienable right” to return to Pakistan.

But when Mr Sharif landed at Islamabad airport yesterday he was promptly arrested on new charges of money-laundering and put on a plane back to Jeddah, where he remains.

“We will fight this battle in the court of law,” Hamza Sharif, the former Prime Minister’s nephew, told reporters on the steps of the Supreme Court after the petition was filed.

“We are fully confident that we will win, God willing.”

Nadir Choudhry, Mr Sharif’s spokesman, said that the former Prime Minister was at his home in Jeddah and planned to return to Pakistan by September 20.

Government officials say Mr Sharif chose to leave rather than face prosecution, while his party says he was given no option.

The court is almost certain to rule in Mr Sharif’s favour as it has been in confrontation with General Musharraf ever since he tried unsuccessfully to sack the Chief Justice in March.

But analysts say General Musharraf remains determined to stop Mr Sharif from returning before a presidential election, due by October 15, and parliamentary polls, due by mid-January.

He also appears to enjoy the tacit support of the US, which still regards him as its best partner in fighting Taleban and al-Qaeda militants sheltering in northwestern Pakistan.

The European Union criticised Mr Sharif’s deportation, Britain said that it was concerned, and Human Rights Watch, the New York-based group, said he should be allowed to return home.

Most Pakistani newspapers were also critical.

“Nothing worse can possibly happen to Pakistan [than] what General Musharraf-led military regime did on Monday,” said a comment piece in The News, a respected English-language daily.

The US, however, was more guarded in its response.

"This is an internal matter for the Pakistanis to deal with," said Gordon Johndroe, the national security spokesman.

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